Different
by HeathenVampires
Summary: Runaway!Hiccup AU. He won't tell her about his past, and he won't admit that he needs her as much as she needs him. But he's just as 'different' as she is, and despite his flaws, Valka can't let him go. Hiccup/Valka Valcup fic. Warning for incest. FTH 2020 fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok! Here we have the fic I'm writing for the winner of my Fandom Trumps Hate 2020 auction. (if you don't know what that is, you can find their blog on tumblr where they talk about it).**

**The winner requested... Valcup! (I know, I was pleasantly shocked and then thrilled myself).**

**Canon-verse, but also AU.  
**

-HTTYD-

Staring dejectedly at the sketches on his desk, Hiccup rolled his charcoal stick back and forth a few times, wishing he had a better idea than just hiding Toothless in the cove and pretending he could kill a dragon.

He jumped when he heard movement, followed by his own name.

"Hiccup."

When had his father come back? Nobody had told him!

"Dad!" He scrambled to start hiding the sketches of Toothless' tail rig, which were a little damn obvious to his mind "you're back! Uh, uh, Gobber's not here!"

"I know. I came looking for you."

Oh gods, he was definitely in trouble. What had he heard? Did someone see him visiting Toothless? Was this where his father finally lost it with him and exiled Hiccup for being such a monumental failure of a Viking?

"You... you did?"

"Aye. You've been keeping secrets from me."

"I-I have?"

"Aye. Now" squeezing his bulk in to the small space, his dad pulled up a stool and sat down "let's talk about that dragon."

Hiccup felt his legs go numb, cold dread washing through him as he babbled out an answer.

"I... I was going to tell you! I just didn't know how! Without upsetting you!"

"Upset me? I was hoping for this!"

Hiccup blinked.

"Y-you were?"

"And believe me, it only gets better!" Hiccup was very confused by now "Just wait til you spill a Nadders guts for the first time!"

Feeling mildly sick, Hiccup scratched the back of his head nervously. His father had much too dreamy and romantic a look in his eye for talking about disembowelling a dragon.

"Uh... what?"

"You really had me going son! All these years of the _worst_ viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough, I almost gave up on you!"

Hiccup frowned.

"You did?"

"Aye. And all this time you were holding out on me!"

"I was?"

Hiccup was starting to realise his father had gotten some mixed information, and had heard about his 'success' in the arena, using tricks he'd picked up from befriending Toothless to subdue dragons without hurting them.

"With you doing so well in the ring" yep, that was it "we'll finally have something to talk about."

And with that, his father perched on a stool that creaked under his weight, leaning in and showing Hiccup more attention and interest than he could _ever _remember - at least, when it wasn't also included with screaming at him for messing up somehow.

And it _hurt. _It made him equal parts sad and angry, because it was painfully, brutally clear right then that Hiccup was never going to be who his father wanted, and that unless he was suddenly able to kill a dragon, there was no point even _trying_ any longer.

Part of him longed to scream at his dad, to tell him about Toothless, to tell him how he was _nothing _like the son a chief needed, and that he never, ever wanted to take over the island or kill dragons or even run village meetings. To show him the tailfin plans, tell him how he melted down valuable metal for weapons and shields to make something that helped a crippled dragon fly again, after failing to take the chance to end the 'devils' life when it was tied up, defenceless, and seemed prepared to face his death.

His hands still shook when he remembered the way Toothless seemed to accept it, closed his eyes and just... slumped. Even if the dragon had killed him, Hiccup wouldn't have regretted freeing Toothless.

Although, since he'd also torn Toothless' tail up, he'd have been leaving him to die eventually anyway, grounded and alone. Bonding with the dragon had saved them both, in a way, even if Hiccup was now realising he had to make a choice to save Toothless.

After the silence stretched out to an awkward level, Stoick cleared his throat, reaching in to a massive pocket of his massive cloak.

"I... I brought you something. To keep you safe. In the ring."

Bemused, Hiccup took the helmet. It was too big, and had big horns either side he _really _hoped hadn't been taken from a dragon.

"Uh. Thanks?"

"Ah, your mother would have wanted you to have it" Hiccup winced; his mother was a touchy subject, even now "it's half of her breastplate."

He almost dropped it.

"Oh."

"Matching set" Stoick tapped his own helmet "keeps her... keeps her close, yanno?"

Hiccup wasn't sure he wanted to place armour on his head that was reshaped from his mothers breastplate to keep her close, but he wasn't about to argue with his dad just then, mind starting to turn elsewhere.

"Well. Thanks."

Out of ideas and itching to escape, Hiccup feigned an overly large yawn.

"Well, I should get to bed!"

"Oh. Right, yes. Good talk! Enjoy the... the hat."

And that was it before his father squeezed out of the room, leaving Hiccup to slump in his seat again and sigh. He put the helmet aside, not sure he deserved the memento of his mother for faking his way through dragon training. After a minute or two of mournful sighing, Hiccup gathered up all his papers and books and shoved them in to a bag, then grabbed a big woven basket and started picking through the workshop.

If he was leaving, he'd need supplies. Spare parts for Toothless' tail rig, mostly, but he grabbed practical things like a tent, flint stones, a couple of daggers and something to sharpen them on. He'd dreamt of running away many times before Toothless, but never knew where he'd go, where he could fit in. Now that didn't matter; if he stayed, he'd be rumbled as a fake, and Toothless would be _killed. _Still, it meant he'd made mental lists of everything he would need to take over and over again.

It was coming in awful handy.

His tools were already packed up, otherwise Gobber always lost them in the mess of metal bits laying around the place. It was amazing he'd only lost body parts to dragons, because the man was a bit of a hazard when it came to safety sometimes. He hesitated a few times before packing the helmet his dad gave him, tucking the small bag of drawings inside that. After checking it was sufficiently pitch black outside, Hiccup clambered up the hill to Raven Point, shoved the bag securely behind a rock and hastened down to the village again, legs burning but he had a newfound energy in him.

Hiccup knew how to bake bread and catch and cook fish, and Toothless was probably sufficient enough at hunting that he didn't need to raid the villages already thin food supplies, but he did pack up some jerky and fruit and bread amongst his spare clothes and pile of books. Just in case. He wasn't coming back, so Hiccup knew he needed to be prepared. The smaller cooking knives were his anyway - his dad would crush the thin handles between his massive hands if he tried to use them. A handful of healing supplies and some spare charcoal was all he could fit in the top of the pack before he had to close it up.

He hoped Toothless didn't mind the additional weight.

Strapping his riding harness on, Hiccup shouldered the bag and grabbed his little firewood axe, then crept along to the top of his bedroom stairs, where thankfully there was no sign of his father. He padded down the stairs, lifted his water canteen and slipped out of the house.

Carting the bags along was a bit of a drag, especially up the hill, but Hiccup soon caught sight of the cove with relief, heard Toothless snuffling about below as he heard Hiccup arrive.

"Quiet boy, I'm coming down."

The dragon sniffed hopefully at the bags, pouting when Hiccup shooed him away.

"Not for eating. We're leaving. Let me check your rig."

As he tested the stirrups and ropes, Hiccup wondered if he should have left a note, if it was a little selfish of him to leave them all behind with no reason or explanation. Toothless purred when Hiccup scratched his scales, managing to get one bag on his back before he climbed up on the saddle, wedging the other in front of him once he'd hooked himself on and got his feet in the stirrups.

"Right. First things first is just get out of here. We'll figure the rest out later... unless you have somewhere to go in mind?"

Toothless nodded his head, wriggling in warning he was about to take off.

"Be careful, I can't drop this bag or I won't be able to work on your tail."

Thankfully, his dragon opted to avoid the spinning and diving, levelling out once they were high enough. The Night Fury was the best dragon for escaping on - small, agile and invisible againt the night sky. Toothless seemed to know where he was going without issue or guidance, and though Hiccup's legs ached and his hands were numb by the time they landed, he was _incredibly _relieved to see the dark shadows of a cave entrance, just visible in the moonlight.

"Is it empty? Or at least safe?"

Toothless sniffed at the ground, making an agreeing noise before walking them in. It was pretty chilly, and Hiccup had nothing to use for firewood, but as soon as the bags were laid down, Toothless warmed the stone ground beneath him and used his wing to wrap Hiccup against his belly. The warm scales were enough for him, and with the weight of Berk lifted, Hiccup fell asleep surprisingly easily.

He woke to Toothless warbling, cracking a tired eye open and peering out from his spot against the dragons underbelly to see they had company. Scaly, dragon-shaped company.

"Oh. Ok. Hi. Do they want to eat me?"

His hands were a bit chilly when he left the warmth of Toothless, but when he reached out carefully to the Gronckle that was looking at them, he sighed in relief when the dragon nudged against his hand.

"Hi there."

As soon as that dragon visibly relaxed and entered the 'room' of the cave he was in, more dragons appeared behind it, several species he recognised and a couple he didn't. None of them showed him any ill will, a couple looking a bit suspicious at first but calming when Toothless seemed to vouch for him.

"Wow. Ok. Much as I'd love to stay here and get to know everything about you guys... if we don't go get some firewood, I'm gonna freeze to death."

Rather than turn to let Hiccup saddle up, Toothless rumbled at the other dragons, who shared looks before all turning and leaving. Hiccup blinked.

"Did you just ask them to get wood for me?"

Toothless nodded.

"And they said yes?"

Another nod.

"Huh."

Hiccup headed along to find the entrance/exit of their cave, and found they were effectively stranded in the ocean. There were little outcrops on the huge lump of rock the cave was embedded in, with a handful of trees on each one. Two of those trees were brought down to the cave by dragons, and Hiccup couldn't help laughing as he watched them try to get them in through a hole smaller than the length of the tree itself.

After much giggling, some clumsy axe work and Toothless' helpful paw snapping up some wood before setting it aflame, Hiccup was warming his hands over a lovely fire. With that immediate concern abated, he had a little more room to _think._

Right away, he'd been shown that dragons weren't what Berk thought, that Toothless and those little Terrible Terrors hadn't been an exception. The dragons had let him sleep peacefully in their cave, and helped his frail human self to keep warm. A Deadly Nadder came in and dropped a beakful of fish down next to them, flapping their wings in Hiccup's direction (and almost putting out his fire in their exuberance).

"Oh. Are these for me?"

Each of the dragons seemed rather familiar with Toothless, who was definitely the only Night Fury he'd seen there so far. Perhaps this was where Toothless had... lived? Before ending up in the raids on Berk, before he was shot down by Hiccup.

"Well... I guess this is a good place to start over. If you guys don't mind me staying for a while?"

They'd move on in time, he was sure - they were less than a nights flight from Berk, and he wanted to get further away. But for now, with nothing but two bags and his dragon? He could do a whole lot worse.

-HTTYD-

**This was just meant to be an intro, because we'll be jumping ahead a few years next chapter. Got kinda long. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Time jumped ahead like three years or so here (Hiccup is 18 before anything happens), but the past will be covered randomly, in bits and pieces (before anyone brings a list of questions).**

-HTTYD-

Crouched down on Cloudjumper's back, Valka felt they'd done a good nights work as they left a dragon hunters fortress smouldering behind them, cages in tatters and the trapped dragons either flown off or following them back to her home nest. The sight of the mountain, huge and sharp and icy in the distance, was a comfort to her. _Home _to her, and to so many dragons.

They landed, one dragon leading any injured to her assigned spot for that while another led the ones who weren't hurt to the heart of the nest, to meet the Alpha. Valka headed to her rooms first, to take off her armour before she went to tend to the dragons.

There was a Night Fury asleep next to a flickering fire that she hadn't left lit. When she looked over to her bed, there was someone in it. Only one person was quite so self-assured as to let themselves in to the mountain, unconcerned about the sheer number of dragons there, and help themselves to her firepit and bed. Clothes and flight gear were piled next to the bed, the bare skin of his back exposed above rumpled blankets. She knew the scars by heart, and could tell by the length of hair tied back into a ponytail that he still hadn't cut his hair. The smell of soap still lingered in the air, so he'd obviously also helped himself to a bath.

Rolling her eyes a bit, Valka stripped out of her armour - he did not stir - and headed to tend to some wounded dragons. Once that was done, she checked in with the Alpha, then the nursery, before heading back to her room and undressing, climbing in to bed next to her guest. He rolled over, groaning.

"Go back to sleep."

"K."

Valka didn't miss that his arm wrapped around her middle, nor the scratch of his scruff against the back of her neck. He said nothing more though, and his breathing evened out as he fell asleep behind her.

When she woke he was gone from her bed, but hadn't moved all that far - he was sat by the fire, one hand holding a spoon to stir what he was cooking while the other petted his dragon.

"Toothless, you can't have this!"

The Night Fury warbled unhappily, then gestured with his head at Valka.

"You're awake."

Nikolás - or Nik, as she'd taken to calling him - commented, lazy and at ease as he turned to stretch out on his back, leant up on his elbows so he could survey Valka. Still not dressed, she felt his eyes roam her exposed skin. She eyed him in turn, wearing a pair of linen shorts and nothing else. He'd taken out his hair tie, red-brown hair halfway to his waist but his slightly patchy beard recently trimmed.

"You could tell me you plan on visiting, you know."

"Wasn't planned. Passing by."

He was lying, and they both knew it. Nikolás turned up far too regularly to just be 'passing by', ever since they'd met trying to blow up the same ships to free dragons. She'd offered to take him to the nest and let him stay, for he and his Night Fury to help her do what she did.

He refused. Insisted he 'didn't need anybody'. Valka left it at that... until they encountered each other again. That time, his dragon was wounded and Valka's nest was nearer than wherever it was they spent their time. He'd stayed the night... in her bed. It had been no grand seduction, nothing resembling romance, just a clash of two lonely humans in a world they didn't quite fit in with, too different to everyone else, too much like dragons to belong with humans. Barely any words exchanged after Valka asked if he was old enough; he was _clearly _younger than her, but said he was eighteen. His height and scars and scruffy jaw didn't disagree with that, and he'd been _all _man under his clothes.

Toothless was well enough to fly the next morning, and so Nikolás had left.

It sent something of a pattern to their... Valka couldn't even call it a relationship. They didn't talk about their past. They didn't _talk _about much, actually. Just dragons and hunters and sex. But he turned up pretty regularly, and after the first two times he'd been gone when she woke up, he'd started spending the night intentionally. After the fifth time, he'd made her breakfast in silence. That was when she learned he could cook quite well.

Valka lost count after about yhe dozenth time he'd stopped by over the last six or seven months. By now, he'd just turn up, and if she wasn't there he'd light a fire or take a bath. Sometimes he'd cook her dinner and leave it waiting (the dragons had been taught not to take food from certain bowls and pots) before he went to bed and slept there like he owned the place.

And she had no idea what she'd do if he stopped. Nikolás was like an anchor, someone else who was _different, _who understood the intrinsic goodness of dragons. He spent much more time talking to _them_ than he did her, and the Bewilderbeast had approved of him. If he was in a good mood, he'd talk about the dragons he'd seen and they'd swap stories about the hunters they'd defeated.

When Valka came back from the bathroom, she pulled a tunic over her head and took the bowl of food Nikolás handed her in silence. She got more stimulating conversation from Toothless, really. And he was asleep.

Of course, as soon as she looked at him sideways and said she was going down for a bath, he was right behind her. It was easy to mistake things for him using her, turning up whenever he wanted to bed her. But she'd seen under the mask of indifference he wore, and knew he needed her as she needed him, to be a tiny spark against the isolating loneliness of their lives. She'd felt him hold her even as he slept, heard those soft whimpers when he had nightmares about all the things he never told her about. Sleeping next to her was a vulnerability he wouldn't admit, and Valka didn't bring it up.

Just like _she _never brought up that he was the same age as her son. Her son she hadn't seen in eighteen years.

"DIdn't you already take a bath?"

Valka asked, able to smell soap on him clearly when he was _so _close to her. He was shameless, really, hands already resting on her hips.

"Yes, but I can always get dirty again."

He leant in, waiting. As though proving she was as weak for him as he was for her, he hovered until Valka closed the distance. It didn't take long for the slow first kiss to become their usual heated clash, her hands in his hair as his splayed on her lower back, bunching up her tunic in his fists. The tunic was gone before long, frantic hands undressing each other until Valka could feel the heat of his cock against her belly, shivering as goosebumps erupted on her skin.

There was a ledge Valka usually put her clean clothes up on, but it was also where she often ended up placed by him as he dropped to his knees, shoving her thighs apart and devouring her eagerly. There was a lot she didn't know about him - _yet - _but she _did _know he was not a selfish lover. His mouth and tongue were devilishly talented, eyes dark in the limited light when he looked up to watch Valka twist and moan and pant. His lewd whispers of how he loved the way she tasted only thrilled Valka more, his arms wrapping around her twitching legs to hold her in place, his beard scratchy against the delicate skin.

_"You know we're not done til I hear your screams echo off the walls."_

He punctuated his words with sharp nips to her inner thighs, sparks of pain fuelling her pleasure. She knew he absolutely meant every word; if her first climax wasn't loud enough for him, he'd keep going til she came again. And again, and _again... _it seemed to get him off as much as it did her. Even when Valka went down on him in return, he insisted on being able to touch her.

There was clearly something to be said for a young, virile lover. Her husband had been long in to adulthood on their wedding night, and much bigger than Valka's slight teenage frame.

"Nik..."

The young man suckling her clit between his lips was none of those things, fresh in to his adulthood, lean and wiry like her. And stronger than he looked, as proved by how her spasming legs and bucking hips didn't dislodge her entirely, her hands finding their way in to his thick hair as Nikolás took her first climax of the day.

He stood, wiping his wet mouth on the back of his forearm before pulling Valka on to still-shaking legs, growling that he needed her _now. _His cock curved up against his belly, thick and ruddy, bobbing as he moved them both. He stopped just long enough to bunch their discarded clothes up for something to put Valka's knees on before she was on all fours and his low voice was in her ear.

"Ready for me?"

Valka nodded, keening; he always asked, even after she'd made it clear it was unlikely he'd ever hear a _no. _Her body rocked back, shamelessly seeking him. Nikolás filled her _perfectly, _ buried inside her with his stomach pressed against her backside, groaning as she shuddered. He rolled his hips in long, deep motions, leant over her to plant kisses along the length of her back, the hidden tenderness of him showing. Valka mewled and pushed back on him, back arching up in to the heat of his mouth.

His pace increased steadily, hitting her harder, deeper, faster, one hand staying braced on her hip while the other slipped down under her and pressed to where they were joined, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest when he felt her whole body shake with pleasure. But he liked to watch her when she came apart, pulling out to roll her on to her back and Valka was powerless against the heat between them, the sounds he wanted soon bouncing off the cave walls.

The water cleaned his mess from her belly and the dirt from their sweaty skin, though even as they washed his hands wereon her under the water, his mouth at her ear; sex made him a lot chattier, though it was largely _filth_ that made her cheeks fill with warmth. The young woman who married Stoick the Vast had been a blushing virgin bride, but now Valka was older and disillusioned with the romance attached to sex, and Nikolás was a talented, generous bedmate (when they actually _made _it to a bed) who was never too tired for another round, and Valka never had to worry he wouldn't hear the word _no, _which had been a deterrent in her early years of solitude.

Mellowed out by sex, Nikolás washed her hair for her in silence. It was his way of seeking intimacy after the fact, Valka had realised, and so she always let him do it, because he held her when _she_ needed it.

* * *

Hiccup sighed to himself as he watched her putter about her nest. He really needed to stop going there. It wasn't fair on her, he knew, because he'd severed himself in two and she only ever got Nikolás, the half a person he dared display. The boy who had run away from Berk because he cared too much for dragons was buried deep, under blood and battles and loss in the last few years fighting the dragon hunters.

Perhaps if they'd met sooner, Hiccup would have agreed to her offer to stay, to help her. But he refused to give himself such a blatant vulnerability, because he knew just from the stolen moments between them that given half a chance, he could fall in love with the feral dragon lady. And if he did, he'd lose her. That was just how his life went.

She didn't push too hard though, and Hiccup felt guilty for how it clearly rankled her to let him be so secretive. He wouldn't be surprised if she knew Nikolás wasn't his real name. He picked it on a whim, the first name in the first book he opened one night in his cave, Toothless snoozing behind him as dragons curled up by the fire. Hiccup was too obvious, too recognisable.

Not that he expected his father, or Berk, to look for him anyway, but Hiccup dreaded the thought of trying to exist with his fathers shadow over him, and so he'd shed the name. He couldn't stop thinking it as his name in his head though, annoyingly.

By the time he'd let his hair grow out and some patchy auburn stubble sprouted on his cheeks and chin, nobody would have recognised him anyway.

He was rabidly curious about the dragon lady sometimes, wondered how long she'd spent out there and whether he was going to see the next twenty years of his life unfold in much the same way. But Hiccup didn't share about his life, so it would have been hypocritical of him to demand her life story in turn.

As Toothless stretched next to him, done with his third nap of the day and looking as though he was considering going for nap number four, Hiccup heard Cloudjumper's distinctive wing-claw walking. Nightmares walked the same sort of way, but they were a fair bit lighter and their walk softer, probably owing to the gel their scales secreted.

"You've got some new battle scars."

"So?"

He winced inwardly even as he said it. She was only trying to be nice, it wasn't her fault he was bitter.

"You should be more careful."

Something about the softness of her voice stirred something up in him. A longing for someone he'd never known, and that buried _guilt_ for choosing dragons after they'd taken her away.

"I don't need a mother! I've done fine all my life without one."

She recoiled as he stood in a rush, Hiccup already heading over to his flight gear. He needed to stop letting her get to him.

"What do you mean?"

Hiccup wasn't sure what made him answer her that time, after all the times he'd turned away at the first hint of a prying question.

"My mother was killed when I was a baby. By dragons, no less. It's why I left home when I realised I couldn't kill a dragon."

Her eyes, so bright and green and curious, narrowed.

"Where was home?"

Once he'd started, he couldn't stop.

"Berk. Tiny little place, raided by dragons all the time and-"

"Nik... what was your mothers name?"

He scowled.

"Why do you care?"

"Just... answer me."

He sighed, fingers slackening their grip on the leather in his hand.

"Valka. Her name was Valka."

He heard tentative footsteps. Turned to see her looking at him as she never had before, like she was seeing him for the first time all over again.

"Hiccup?"

-HTTYD-

**Personally, I think this chapter is a hot mess, but it was a necessary hot mess to get us to the good stuff!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Didn't mean to neglect this but some commissions took a lot of time. **

-HTTYD-

Valka traced the scar on his chin with her thumb, marvelling at how _young _he looked without the scruff on his face. He'd shaved it off, as he'd only let it grow so nobody could recognise him. She could see Stoick's features now she was looking, but she could also see herself in his face.

Hiccup - _gods, _it was _Hiccup! _\- leaned in to her hand, sighing softly.

"I can't believe it was you all along."

"Me either."

They weren't even talking about the fact they'd been sleeping together for months. Just that they'd found each other, by accident, after finding their way in to the same life of fighting for dragons. He told her about Berk, about Toothless - and had the grace to look very very sheepish when telling her about how he shot Toothless down - and about realising he couldn't hurt the dragons, so he couldn't stay.

"The way he talked, it sounded like he thought you'd be proud of me for 'doing so well' at dragon training. But by the sounds of it, you were _always _fighting for peace."

"I was. And, like you, I knew they wouldn't listen, that minds couldn't be changed. But I'd been gone for almost fifteen years by then, perhaps Stoick had replaced true memories with idealised ones."

"He gave me a helmet made of half your breastplate. He'd already made his own helmet with the other half."

Valka couldn't help it; she cracked up laughing. Hiccup chortled next to her after a minute, taking a swallow from his tea.

"Oh, he always was ridiculous. You didn't keep it, did you?"

"I have it somewhere. I... it was all I had of you, but I also felt guilty taking it when I was choosing dragons, back when I thought you'd been taken and eaten by them."

Cloudjumper huffed behind them, looking indignant at the idea he'd ever _hurt _Valka. Reaching to pat her dragons leg, Valka turned her attention back to Hiccup.

"Well, you have me now."

He nodded.

"Is that offer to stay still good?"

Valka tried not to jump too eagerly, having been wondering if it was too soon to ask him again the entire time they'd been talking.

"Always. I can't make up for the years I was gone, but you have a home with me now."

He smiled at her softly, stretching his legs out a bit.

"I'll have to go get my stuff, I guess."

"I'll come with you. I'd like to see where you've been living."

Hiccup nodded in agreement, though he made no effort to move from her side just yet. Valka didn't mind a bit. They _did _get moving eventually; both were keen to be settled enough that they could go out rescuing together, and Hiccup was very much enamoured with the idea of letting Valka teach him everything she knew about dragons, which had been that little lost dream of hers for _so _long.

Valka could see why 'Nik' had never let her know where he lived; it was where she could see _him, _a whole person in the sketches on the wall and some slightly-clumsily carved bowls in the kitchen, which Hiccup said he'd made early on and hadn't needed to replace yet. Not the moody recluse who didn't say much; Hiccup was surprisingly chatty now he felt free to be.

"I was only really good with food and metal then, I've expanded my skill set in the last few years, mostly out of necessity."

He bent over and rooted through a trunk, came up holding what she realised was a helmet.

"This was what dad gave me. It was too big and kept falling down over my eyes."

He lifted it and put it over his head, and though it wasn't a snug fit, it didn't fall down. Valka felt rather strange seeing him do so, though she couldn't put her finger on why. Hiccup put it back in a trunk, apologising to Cloudjumper as he bumped his head on the low cave roof.

"Sorry Cloudjumper, none of the dragons who live here are as big as you."

As they packed up things in to trunks, Valka couldn't help but watch him. He didn't look sad to be leaving, and she wondered if despite his efforts, that cave by himself ever really felt like home. _Nik_ had always seemed quite at home in her nest once he'd started turning up.

They were done fairly soon, and Hiccup _smiled _as they left, and when he asked Toothless what he thought about the move, his dragon seemed equally pleased too. Dragons seemed to enjoy being near their Alpha, naturally gravitating by the flock and almost none of the dragons she'd brought back to the mountain to heal chose to leave for good. Hiccup joked as they sorted through his things that the caliber of cooking would improve now he had all his cooking things like spices and better knives.

"Wait. Uh. Where am I sleeping now?"

It was the first time that conversation had even come close to addressing their bed-sharing since the realisation of earlier. Valka shrugged.

"We could find you a room. Or... you can stay here with me still."

Hiccup frowned slightly.

"Seriously?"

"I didn't mean... I just... I liked having someone there when I slept. If you're uncomfortable, you don't have to."

His frown softened, and after a minute he nodded.

"Yeah. I liked it too. I'm sorry about... how I was, before. I was just afraid to get too close to someone."

"I understand. And you had your ways of letting me know you cared, no matter how detached you tried to be."

Hiccup smiled.

"I'm glad you knew that."

His things all in some semblance of order, they spent the rest of the day tending to the nest - no longer her home, but _their _home. She got to watch her son clambering about within the mountain, playing with the baby dragons and learning to care properly for the wounded and sick - he'd never stayed long enough for a proper lesson before. Valka had to keep pinching herself to check she wasn't simply dreaming.

And, to his credit, dinner was _amazing. _He seemed to have a knack for spices and mixing flavours perfectly, which he'd _definitely _not gotten from Valka, who had never been gifted in the kitchen.

"This is... I don't have the words."

Hiccup commented that evening as they sat by the fire, Toothless and Cloudjumper out in the heart of the nest sleeping with the others; they didn't like the smell of the hot cocoa drink their humans were drinking.

"I know what you mean. I never dreamed..."

She didn't have the words either, not to do justice to the incredible reality of him being _there _with her, or to explain how incredible she found it that he'd found his way to choosing dragons over people without her there.

The fact he so readily _forgave_ her for being absent so long was heady and surprising for her still.

There was a trace of awkwardness when it came to going to bed, because they'd never gone to bed so _platonically _before. But once they were under the furs, fire burning low, Valka felt Hiccup settle behind her, arm creeping over her waist.

"Is... is that ok?"

"Of course."

He sighed happily, warm breath tickling Valka's neck. His breathing evened out soon after, and Valka fell asleep not much later, trying to ignore the familiarity. He wasn't Nik anymore. He was _Hiccup._

Hiccup seemed to have forgotten that himself the next morning. Valka was stirred to wakefulness by a warm hand on her breast and the heat of his erection pressed firmly against her back. That wasn't unusual for _Nik, _but that was before she knew Nik was Hiccup, that he was her _son. _Valka did her best to ignore the tingle growing between her legs and tried to work out if Hiccup was still sleeping.

He let out a small groan, and then jerked and pulled his hand away, rolling over so his body was no longer pressed tight to hers. Still asleep. Valka opted to feign sleep so they wouldn't have to talk about it, eyes closed as she felt Hiccup shift behind her, felt his hair brush her arm and imagined him leaning over her, seeing if she'd woken up. There was a small sigh of relief, and then he was leaving the bed. Valka hoped he hadn't noticed how warm her face was, arousal creeping through her still, body too used to responding to those hands.

It took her a minute or two to decide to get up, knowing she'd have to deal with the lingering wetness _Hiccup _had left her with. He padded back from the bathroom, and started setting up the fire before Valka 'woke up', and he wouldn't quite meet her eye when she glanced over. Valka offered him a smile, not trusting her voice, and hastened to the bathroom herself to clean away the shameful evidence of need.

"Morning."

Hiccup commented as she came out, tea steeping and breakfast cooking, dragons slurping down finish nearby.

"Good morning."

"I made breakfast. Then maybe after we check on the dragons, we can go flying?"

Apparently, they weren't going to talk about it. Valka wasn't going to argue. So she sat down next to him and took the bowl he held out, nodded to his question.

"That sounds good."

And it _was. _Up in the air, Valka felt all the worry and weirdness of the morning fall away, the ice cold air sharp in her lungs as they soared and freedom coursed through her blood. Hiccup was lighter than she could ever remember seeing him, rolling through the sky on Toothless' back, his hair tied back lazily earlier and threatening to free itself. Other dragons tumbled around them, a few giving Hiccup confused or curious looks - they knew the other human, but he'd never been flying with them for _fun,_ never been so jovial and carefree.

She'd seen him a couple of times in the air, but despite only having been flying for a few years compared to her near-two-decades, Hiccup was _incredibly_ skilled. He had to control Toothless' tail, and that meant human and dragon had to instinctively trust each other to turn the right way, for Hiccup to manipulate the stirrup and give Toothless the tail configuration he needed.

"This needs work, Toothless is struggling with some of his turns. Guess I'm gonna have to build a forge set up here sooner rather than later. Any ideas on where I could put a set up in?"

Valka hummed, thinking about different spaces within the mountain that could work before realising she had little idea of what was needed to make a good forge space.

"We can go looking. If it's not been claimed by a dragon, it's yours."

They spent the morning clambering around the mountain, Hiccup learning the twists and turns - he and Toothless always flew in, so he'd never needed to learn to walk anywhere but the bathroom and the springs where they washed. It took a couple of hours for Hiccup to find somewhere he deemed suitable, and he started setting up right away. It was clear Toothless was used to helping him, retracting his teeth and carefully lifting bits and pieces Hiccup gestured to.

"This will be good! We'll nail those tight turns eventually bud."

By the time they were done, it was time for lunch and that meant more flying out with the dragons, Hiccup's joyful laughter as he watched the Alpha bring up the rain of fish. They spent the rest of the day tending to dragons, Valka showing him around the nearby islands and introducing him to the various dragon species.

Up in the air, or being bowled over by friendly baby dragons, Hiccup was _so _different to Nik that Valka found it easy enough to ignore what had happened that morning, dismiss it as a remnant of what they'd been to each other before the truth came out.

She still swallowed thickly and forced herself to look away when he was taking his tunic off that evening; dragon flying gave one excellent adaptation to the cold, so when they were sat around the fire of an evening, Hiccup complained he was too warm. Valka told herself it was the fire making her face flush when Hiccup stretched, shaking off thoughts of how many times she'd run her hands over his body before.

When they were getting ready for bed that night, Valka seriously debated asking Hiccup to sleep elsewhere for a second or two, before crushing guilt hit her. _She'd _been the one who said he could stay, had been the one justifying it to him. It wouldn't be fair on him if she changed her mind now, and he may well be _horrified_ to hear her reasons why. So Valka let him curl up behind her again, fought the faint shiver as his fingers skated the sensitive dip of her waist before his arm settled over her. Bit her lip when his warm breath tickled the back of her neck. Told herself she just had to get used to it. And she would. They had time.

-HTTYD-

**Is it obvious that I feel robbed by HTTYD2 not giving us time where Valka and Hiccup _really_ talked about dragon rescues and how they'd go exploring the world together? Cus I do! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm out of witty ideas for author notes, but at this point it would feel weird if I didn't have one.**

-HTTYD-

Maybe letting him set up a forge was a mistake. Valka wasn't sure it was _fair _to be trying to get past that residual attraction when Hiccup would appear from the forge, damp tunic peeled off to leave him sweaty and shirtless.

Gods, she needed to get a grip. _Not_ on him, as her thoughts something unhelpfully offered.

Hiccup wiped his face down with a wet bit of cloth, scrubbed it rather fruitlessly through his sweaty hair.

"I could probably do with a bath, but I'm famished and I want to test this new tail out first."

Valka nodded, and forced herself to look away from the ropey muscles still shiny with sweat. Her... _attraction _to him hadn't faded as much as it really should have since they found out who they were to each other.

Sometimes, she wondered if Hiccup felt the same. She occasionally caught his eyes lingering, and if she kissed his cheek, his head would twitch enough that she wondered whether or not he was considering turning around, meeting her lips properly.

He still slept in her bed, arm wrapped around her, breath tickling the back of her neck and. More often than not, Valka woke to feel him hard against her, did her best to just ignore it and brush it off. They certainly didn't _talk _about it. Whatever happened between she and Nik, she and Hiccup didn't really discuss.

It was easier to forget, when they were up in the sky or tending to dragons, because she hadn't seen Nik that way, but Valka feared the two sides of her son were blurring the longer he lingered in the nest. Nik had always made himself quite at home, and Hiccup was no different there as a permanent resident. Hiccup had the same hands, the same body, the same rough, low voice in the mornings that she fought to suppress a shiver for.

The two of them sparred, honing their fighting skills to take down the Dragon Hunters together. It meant several instances of one pinning the other to the ground - with their similar height and build, they were pretty evenly matched, and so victories went both ways. When Hiccup pressed her wrists to the ground with his hand, panting with exertion, it was all Valka could do to look away.

There was little she could do but ignore the feelings and hope they went away. She couldn't send _Hiccup _away, just because she was struggling with residual physical attraction. Nor would she have _wanted_ to. Despite any of the awkwardness, having Hiccup in her life was an indescribable joy. To know her son was like her, to have him _choose dragons,_ and choose to stay with her? It was incredible.

If that meant a few tricky moments where her body flushed with heat at the memory of their early interactions, so be it. They would go away, in time, Valka was completely certain.

That certainty got a little shaky sometimes. It was _dangerously_ fragile when Hiccup got drunk, misjudging how strong the wine they'd raided off of a ship full of hunters turned out to be. He was a little unsteady on his feet, dropping down gracelessly next to Valka by the fire, his smile more crooked than usual and his eyes a little glazed over.

"Heyyyyy."

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Not... _too_ much. I think" he shuffled closer, wrapped an arm around her and smiled "but that's not what I came over here for."

"What did you come over here for then?"

He buried his face in her neck, and Valka had to bite back a gasp as she tingled with the feel of his breath, his fresh stubble scraping against the sensitive skin, his lips brushing there as he giggled lightly.

"To tell you I'm really happy to be here. You have no idea how amazing it is to have found you. I... I feel like I got back something I lost a long time ago, when I realised who you were."

For someone who could barely stand only a moment ago, Hiccup seemed remarkably coherent, and Valka couldn't help but feel her chest swell with love and warmth at his words.

"I feel the same."

"Gooood."

He didn't let go of her, resumed nuzzling her neck, the tips of his fingers flexing against the side of her breast when he pulled her closer still. The warmth Valka felt spreading through her had nothing to do with the roaring fire in front of her, and she feared her body may always betray her that way at the slightest provacation.

She pulled away, murmuring an apology to a slightly pouting Hiccup and claiming she needed to answer natures call as she escaped. The call she felt was very much _unnatural, _as far as she was concerned, and Valka took several deep breaths and tried to get herself under control. Pounding heart calming a little, Valka tried to reason with herself. Maybe it was just that she'd gotten used to regular... _release, _with Nik, and since Hiccup moved in, she'd been occasionally flustered and worked up with nothing to release the tension.

With that in mind, Valka headed back to see Hiccup had tipped over and was lying in an uncomfortable-looking position, lightly snoring. Feeling much more motherly when she took away his drink and picked him up to put him to bed, Valka chuckled lightly as he rolled around before dropping right back to sleep. It meant she was free to escape down to where they bathed, heart pounding nervously as she undressed.

It wasn't something she'd done much - Valka had gotten quite good at ignoring her body, and then with Nik around, she hadn't really _needed _to. But occasionally, Nik had watched her hungrily, growling the words _"touch yourself" _and left her powerless to resist. At least she knew how and where would feel good.

She slipped out of her clothes and sank into the water, soaking for a few minutes to relax first. Bracing one hand against the edge for stability, Valka let her hand wander, peering nervously as though anyone but a dragon might catch her. They probably wouldn't even know what she was doing. Nor would they see it with her under the water.

The first touch made her jump, the water meaning little friction but _gods, _Valka wasn't aware how aroused Hiccup had left her, how sensitive she'd be until her fingers made purchase. Biting her lip, Valka tried not to think of anything as her fingers worked, instinct and need overriding nerves and shame as she kept going, her other hand tightening its grip, legs starting to jerk in the water.

It was _him _she thought of as climax washed over her, biting her lip so hard she tasted blood to stay quiet lest his name leave her lips.

At least the bath made it easy to wash away her shame, somehow feeling both clean and dirty as she dried off and put her nightwear on. Hiccup was awake when she got back, though it was a groggy, bleary-eyed kind of awake.

"Come to bed!"

"I am, I just need to douse the fire."

Hiccup made a sound of assent, wriggling close and wrapping himself around her when Valka lay down next to him. Her response to his touch wasn't _gone, _but Valka was gratified to notice it was less intense, as though she'd taken quite a large edge off of it with her... bath.

If that was all it took to manage her illicit longings until they went away? Valka would take it.

* * *

Hiccup wondered if it was simply inevitable, and that a need for comfort had merely been a push closer. Because they _did _need comfort, and they only had each other, sitting in that sad silence as they mourned the dragons lost in the fight earlier. The trappers and hunters were awful people, and he and Valka had saved many more dragons than they lost that day, but that didn't stop them feeling the loss anyway.

They held each other. Hiccup didn't remember who moved first, who kissed who. All he knew was familiar heat in his belly and hands tangling in his hair, the salt of tears on her lips as she gasped weakly into his mouth. One hand left his hair to curl around his hip, nails short from dragon-scratching digging into his back. Was it wrong of him to think it felt more natural _now _than it had before?

_"We shouldn't. We can't."_

Valka mumbled between kisses, even as her hands fumbled to untie the laces of his leggings.

"Says who? There's only us."

Hiccup answered, her hips lifting to let him tug down her bottoms. He buried his face in her neck and breathed her scent in, reminded just like before how alone they were in their fight for dragons, and how much that stopped mattering when her bare skin was under his hands.

They undressed each other with a frantic urgency that ended as soon as they were naked, every move suddenly slow and deliberate, as though they were telling each other without words that they were making the choice not to stop. Valka's arms circled his shoulders, fingers linking and resting at the top of his spine. Hiccup braced himself against their bed - and it was _their _bed, had been since the first night they spent together - and held her gaze as they joined, checking for doubt and finding none.

Normally louder, harder, hotter, everything was muted moans and soft whimpers against his mouth, Hiccup panting into her neck when she pulled him even closer. His forehead rested against hers when his rocking hips stilled, heard her low whines as she squirmed under him, urging Hiccup to continue. He ran his hand down her thigh before hiking her leg up around his hip, and his mother got the message, wrapped her legs tight around his waist, cradled him between her thighs.

_"Move."_

She pleaded, flexing her legs against his hips until they moved again. Hiccup was lost in her, nothing in the world but the two of them in that moment, clutching each other tight as they panted and gasped through respective climaxes. They calmed slowly in the tight embrace, until there was nothing but the sound of their ragged breaths in the otherwise silent air.

Still holding each other, Hiccup rolled on to his back, brought her over until Valka's head rested on his chest, her hand splayed over his still-quick heart.

"I thought I could..."

"Could what?"

"Fight this. Resist the pull to you."

Hiccup frowned, shaking his head.

"Why?"

Gods, if only he'd known. He'd _ached _to be with her as they were before, missed the feel of her lips under his and the scent of her skin when they were basking in the post-coital haze. If Hiccup had known _she_ still wanted...

But that didn't matter now.

"Because... you're my son!"

"I know. And maybe it's weird, but I never stopped wanting you. Up here, in the mountain, with the dragons? We don't answer to anybody else. Who is there to judge us?"

"The gods?"

Hiccup huffed.

"They let us find each other when I went by Nik. If they have a problem now, they can come down and take it up with me personally."

Despite the earlier somber mood, and the tension of addressing their shared illicit attractions, Hiccup was elated to hear his mother _laugh,_ burying her face in his bare chest.

"You're ridiculous."

"And you wouldn't have me any other way" he leant down, brushed his lips over her hair and heard her soft exhale "just as I wouldn't want you any other way."

She pushed herself up enough to look at him, chewing her lip.

"Not even just... not your mother?"

Hiccup shrugged, shook his head.

"Like I said, no difference up here. And it's not like we've ever really had a traditional mother-son relationship. Why should _this_ be any different?"

She frowned slightly.

"And it's that simple for you?"

"Yeah. It's just us, and the dragons. We're already outcasts."

He took a chance, leant up and kissed her. She hesitated, but soon softened and returned the gesture. When they parted, her doubts seemed faded, her free hand coming up to cradle his face, rubbing her thumb over his cheek.

"I suppose if we were meant to fall in love, it's just another way we were born different to everyone else."

-HTTYD-

**Ooooh, I'm very excited about where this is going. I realise it may have come off a little sudden between Valka and Hiccup's POV switches, but... this isn't a looong fic, and there's lots to be done! And besides, I've done a lot of drawn out, endless pining for these two. It was time they skipped all that.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Writing Valcup counts as pandemic self care, right?**

-HTTYD-

Sometimes, Hiccup pinched himself. How was his life not all a wonderful dream? He kept expecting to wake up on Berk, alone and expected to go be a dragon killer. Instead, he woke wrapped around his mother - his _lover _\- surrounded by dragons, every single day. His first sights of the day were Toothless and Cloudjumper and his mothers beautiful sleepy eyes and soft smiles.

That morning, they'd done the morning dragon-tending and breakfast, before climbing back in to bed just for lazy cuddles. Well, Hiccup wouldn't have turned down further developments, but he knew his mother was feeling a little sore and tender. They'd been quite... _active _ever since they acknowledged their feelings for each other and cast away any guilts or doubts over being together. When he was still Nik, they'd been pretty active then, but his mother _had _gotten breaks between his visits then. Now they lived together.

And besides, Hiccup couldn't really choose a more perfect place to be than with her in his arms, her head resting on his chest, the scent of smoke and wildflowers on her hair filling each of his breaths. She had a sweet habit of humming now and then when she was happy, and it seemed every other exhale of hers was a light hum, so Hiccup could only surmise she was _very _happy that morning.

"I still can't believe you're really here."

She murmured as she nuzzled into his chest, jumping with a sound somewhere between a yelp and a giggle when Hiccup cheekily reached and squeezed her backside.

"Hiccup!"

"What? Just letting you know I'm here."

Valka shook her head, pressed a kiss to his chest.

"Silly boy."

He kissed the top of her head, heard his mother sigh happily. From his vantage point, he saw Toothless and Cloudjumper both sat nearby, watching the two expectantly. Hiccup chuckled, prompting Valka to peer up at him.

"What?"

"I get the feeling we're not far off from those two stealing the covers and dragging us out to go flying whether we are dressed for it or not."

Twisting to look at their dragons, she turned back and flopped over Hiccup's chest, giggling.

"I rather think you're right. Well, I suppose we should get up."

Hiccup feigned feeling terribly put out by it, but that soon faded as his mother sat up and pulled off her sleep-tunic, exposing her bare skin to his eyes. She saw him looking, small smile playing at the side of her mouth. One of the positives, in Hiccup's mind at least, of them having met and fucked before they learned the truth of their connection to one another, was that there was no _doubt _from Valka. She'd already learned and accepted that _Nik _found her attractive, and so there was never any doubt Hiccup saw her that way too.

Gods, she was gorgeous. Wild, untameable and utterly _perfect. _Reaching out, Hiccup pulled her back to him so he could kiss the scars on her back and shoulders, heard her giggle as she squirmed in his arms.

"Hiccup!"

"Couldn't resist. We can get up now."

Shaking her head with a fond, indulgent sigh, they did indeed get up, dressing much to the dragons delight before Hiccup saddled up and his mother showed off her lack of need for one. They flew for a couple of hours, just for the simple joy of being in the air. By then it was time for feeding, which had yet to lose its amusing novelty in the downpour of fish bouncing off of dragons heads while Toothless got a little overzealous and caught more fish than he'd likely be able to eat.

As they relaxed after lunch and flight, Hiccup felt his mother take his hand, her slender fingers tangling with his. He turned to her, but she was watching Toothless and Cloudjumper, face pensive.

"You alright mom?"

The word fell naturally from his mouth, and his mother had taken no issue with it, despite the fact they'd become lovers again. Hiccup was glad; he loved to call her that, and would have hated if it came to be negative for her to hear.

"Yes, yes. I just suppose _this" _she held up their joined hands "makes me sad for those two, as they're such rare species."

Hiccup nodded.

"Nothing is stopping us from going looking though. I know you've been all across the world, but doesn't mean you found _every_ dragon."

Valka hummed, squeezing his hand.

"That's very true. Is that something you'd be interested in doing?"

"Travelling the world with you to look for dragons? Absolutely."

Her slight frown became a warm smile, her eyes soft when she turned to look at him properly.

"I do wonder what I did to be so lucky."

"Me too. But we're here, and together, and I'm happy."

Valka's answering smile was blinding, and Hiccup's heart skipped a beat or two in his chest at the sight of it. He tugged at her hand and she got the message, moved until she was straddling his lap, her hands coming up to cradle his face tenderly as they kissed. Hiccup adored the soft little sounds his mother made when they kissed, sweet moans in the back of her throat, breathy gasps when they pulled apart, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright.

Her thumb stroked his chin, tracing the little scar. Hiccup now knew the story behind it, and Cloudjumper had given a rueful warble of apology about it when he heard his part in creating the scar, to which Hiccup offered him some smoked salmon to reassure the big dragon he was very much forgiven.

They kissed again and again and _again, _her mouth so very addictive to him, the way her thin lips moulded themselves to his feeling like a perfect fit, like they were _made _to fit against his that way.

"Would you like to take a bath before dinner?"

She murmured close to his mouth, breath hot on his face. Hiccup swallowed, his fingers flexing against her hips.

"Alone or with you?"

He saw her mouth tip up into a grin.

"With me."

"Definitely."

Even if it was _just _bathing she had in mind, Hiccup wasn't going to turn down spending time looking at her naked body, and he still loved to wash her hair for her. So when she stood, holding out her hand, Hiccup took it eagerly, grabbing their bathing supplies before he followed his mother down to where they cleansed themselves.

The air was warm and humid down there, sweat beading readily on their skin as they placed their things down and came together, exchanging kisses in between undressing each other slowly. Hiccup wrapped his arms around her lower back, pulling her bare skin against his own. Valka gasped lightly into his mouth, her hands burying themselves in his hair. They stayed that way for a little while, lost in one another.

A hand on his shoulder had Hiccup taking a step back, and almost before he realised her intent, his mother had rolled up her discarded clothes for protection, kneeling on the bundle of fabric and peering up at Hiccup from where her face was now level with his cock. Her warm breath made him twitch, her big doe eyes giving her an _almost_ innocent look that was offset by the smouldering heat of her gaze.

Hiccup already knew she could make him weak in the knees with her mouth alone, that she was so _sinfully_ talented with her lips and tongue. He usually preferred to be able to touch her too, but his mother seemed very intent on her self-appointed task. So Hiccup settled for winding his fingers through her hair, settling them against her scalp and groaning weakly as she began to lick and suck teasingly at the sensitive head of his cock. She waited for him to be _whimpering _before there was more than just that agonisingly wonderful torture, moving on to take the length of his shaft into her mouth, one hand squeezing and stroking around the base whilst the other came around to clasp at his butt, nails blunt from dragon scales scratching lightly at surprisingly sensitive skin.

Sometimes she closed her eyes, others she stared up at him, holding his gaze and it was probably the most powerfully sensual thing Hiccup had ever experienced. The connection he had with the woman touching him was beyond anything he could really word, and yet he felt as though _she _could convey it all with a single look.

His legs shook under him as the intense emotions rushed through his body like fire, pushing him over the edge before he could gasp out a warning. He heard his mothers sound of surprise, but thankfully Hiccup didn't choke her, felt her swallow him down as he stammered out an apology. Soothing hands rubbed his hips and thighs until his legs were a little more steady before he reached down to help her to her feet.

"Sorry. Kind of hit me out of nowhere."

Valka wiped the back of her hand across her wet mouth, clearing most of the saliva and sticky residue from her chin.

"It's fine. I know you're generally more courteous."

He let out a loose chuckle, still feeling little tremors roll through him. Gods, his mother had _such _a powerful effect on him.

"Speaking of... are you still sore or can I return the favour?"

Hiccup loved the light flush rising on her cheeks, saw her bite her lip and consider it.

"Still a little sore, but I do want that."

He nodded, already nudging her back to the shelf of rock he so often perched her on for this very act, Valka moving agreeably.

"I'll be gentle."

* * *

Though they'd agreed to hold off on any world-scouring for Night Furies and Stormcutters until they were sure the Dragon Hunters wouldn't simply expand to unstoppable levels while they were away, Valka still caught sight of Hiccup perusing the maps she'd sketched so far, and sometimes he would ask her about the dragons she'd seen that didn't live in the cold areas they themselves inhabited.

Valka also noticed how Hiccup was pretty much always touching her. Not even in a particularly sexual or arousing way. He just liked to hold her hand, or trace shapes on her skin. Sometimes he'd run his fingertips lightly over her bare arm, or rest his lips against her temple when he was half asleep. She wasn't sure Hiccup even noticed he did it, but she found it sweet how he liked to stay connected.

As though sensing she was thinking of him, her son's eyes raised from the page he'd been reading - a book about breadmaking he'd picked up at a market they'd ventured to for supplies they couldn't easily steal from Hunter ships - and he flashed her his beautiful, crooked smile.

"Everything alright?"

"Very much so."

He beamed, nodding before he turned back to reading. Toothless grew bored of being ignored by his human companion though, and began shuffling closer before outright trying to push the book from Hiccup's hands with his head.

"Am I neglecting you? Big, needy lizard? Hmm? Fine, fine" Hiccup stretched to put the book up on a table before he turned back to Toothless "here, have _all _my attention!"

He leapt on top of Toothless, tickling and scratching him, both dragon and man laughing as they rolled around. Valka's heart swelled with love as she watched them, reminded yet again how lucky she was to have her son with her and that he _knew, _he _understood _how incredible dragons were and chose to stay there and live their feral, isolated life. And still, they had love and companionship in each other, surprisingly well matched as a... couple? Valka supposed it was as close a word as she could think of, though it seemed a woefully inadequate word for the connection between them.

"Ok, that's enough for you. Up for a spar mom?"

Valka nodded, seeing he was still feeling energetic after play-fighting with his dragon. She changed out of the top she had on - it was comfortable, she didn't want to risk it getting torn on the ground. Hiccup was eyeing her quite openly when she turned back, smirking as his eyes took in her bared top half before it vanished under an old, baggy tunic of hers.

Hiccup didn't bother with a tunic, chuckling lightly when Valka asked if he wanted to get something so he wouldn't get scratched up by the ground.

"I'll be fine, don't worry mom. Come on, attack me!"

Rolling her eyes at his light teasing, Valka followed him to their little sparring spot. He stood, pretending to be not paying attention until Valka was close enough. They were still very evenly matched, though with all the practice they'd gotten in, each had advantages to press. Hiccup, as a blacksmith, was stronger on one side than the other, and Valka was a little more flexible and athletic than him, from clambering around the nest and scuttling around on all fours for years.

It became clear quite quickly that Hiccup was going to play dirty, burying his face in her neck and sucking harshly at _that _spot he'd found, the one that made Valka's legs stop wanting to support her weight as her arms clutched his back. Rather than simply _let _him, Valka fought back by dragging her nails down his back. Hiccup gasped, letting her go to try and catch his breath. They shared a heated look before he was tackling her to the ground, pinning Valka's wrists above her head.

"Fighting dirty are we?"

Increasingly aroused by his weight on top of her, his breath ragged and his voice rough, Valka did her best to play innocent all the same.

"You started it."

He chuckled, giving a small nod of concession before he leant down, stopping just short of kissing her. The hand not holding her wrists was on her leg, thumb rubbing the inside of her knee.

"You didn't really fight back. Anyone would think you like ending up like this."

Valka could feel his growing erection, rubbed herself up against him teasingly and enjoyed the way his breath hitched. He squeezed her knee, finally kissed her properly.

"I hope you aren't going to be resorting to such underhanded tactics" his hand slid up her thigh, tunic rising with it "in a real fight."

Fighting not to get distracted by his hand climbing higher, Valka let out a short laugh.

"I highly doubt either I or someone I was actually fighting would be _this _underdressed."

Her tunic was rucked up around her hips before long, Hiccup letting out a low sigh as he found her underwear damp to the touch, mouth landing over hers. Any dragons nearby quickly made themselves scarce, though by then they were rather used to the humans 'mating' at random, rather than seasonally. Cloudjumper did grumble sometimes if he was about to go to sleep though.

Hiccup pulled off her underwear, wriggling just enough to free his cock from his bottoms. Valka widened her legs to let him fit, hips arching into his as Hiccup filled her in one steady thrust, sharing a moan of satisfaction as they joined.

"Gods, Hiccup..."

His forehead rested against hers, their breath mingling.

"I love you."

The words were murmured softly, a gentle but genuine sentiment. Valka tipped her head, kissed him equally tenderly before she responded in kind. Hiccup smiled, hips rolling into hers in long, deep thrusts. Oh, she loved how perfectly he fit her, their bodies seemingly made to be compatible. Hiccup mouthed at her breast, a perversion of the first touches they'd shared as mother and son but it only thrilled her further as he sucked her nipple into his mouth, deep green eyes peering up at her with heat in his gaze.

His mouth found hers again, kissed the air from her lungs and tasted the needy moans that escaped her lips. When he pulled away to watch her pant and gasp and writhe beneath him, Hiccup moved his lips to her ear, lewd praise on his tongue as he told Valka how good she felt around him, how much he loved to feel her tighten on his cock as she grew close to climax. His words fuelled her fire, gave Hiccup the sights and sounds he craved as she went to pieces there and then.

Even though she'd come, Valka still whined as he slipped free, though there was something messy and thrilling about the way he spilled across her belly, most of it landing on her tunic as they'd not bothered undressing. Hiccup's hand reached for his cock, using her arousal as lubricant to stroke himself and prolong his high a little longer.

When they'd both calmed a little, Hiccup helped her to her feet, Valka discarding the soiled tunic to be washed later before her son was pulling her to their bed, intent on post-coital cuddles. He ran his fingers up and down her sweaty back, tracing the dips and bumps along her spine. Despite how warm she was, Valka still felt goosebumps erupt over her skin. As they lay there, a question she'd pondered more than once came back to her, unsure if now was the right time to ask but equally sure there mightn't be a _right time _to ask it anyway.

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

Valka hesitated, but eventually pushed ahead with her question.

"Was I your first?"

-HTTYD-

**I did originally mean for this chapter to actually cover Hiccup's past more, but I was sad and wanted Valcup smut so that's what we got.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, after a month where I didn't write (or do) a whole lot of anything... slowly catching up. **

-HTTYD-

"Was I your first?"

Hiccup sighed, but the warm weight of his mother in his arms and the scent of her hair up close helped keep him relaxed.

"No. There was someone... it's why _Nik_ was so afraid of falling for you."

Valka shifted a little so she could see his face, rubbed her hand gently on his chest.

"Do you want to talk about her?"

Hiccup frowned. Last he checked, women didn't like to hear about previous lovers, and though she was his mother, she was also his lover.

"Why would you want to know?"

She surveyed him oddly.

"Because they were obviously important to you, and I want to know everything about you son. I'm not jealous, if that's what worries you."

"Really?"

"Well, it's not like you don't know you weren't _my _first."

Hiccup snorted. Yeah, his very existence was proof of _that _much, although neither of them talked a lot about Berk or Stoick any longer. They acknowledged their past, but neither felt truly connected to it the way they did to each other, to dragons, to the fight they were committed to.

"Alright. Her name was Camicazi. She was from a tribe that doesn't have much trouble with dragons, but if one turned up they generally saw it as a threat. I was out trading for some supplies and ran into a group of creeps trying to surround her. She was short, but mouthy and kind of feral... I think maybe I have a type there."

His mother laughed lightly, the sound making his heart feel lighter instantly.

"Go on."

"I called Toothless, and he blew them up and pulled us out. Cami pulled out a _knife _and said she'd take us all down if I tried anything, while I was flying Toothless! He landed as soon as we were clear of that island, and I managed to convince her not to kill me and Toothless. The whole 'dragons aren't dangerous' was a tougher sell... I offered to take her home, but she said no. I think... I think maybe she was running from something there too."

"So you took her back with you?"

Hiccup nodded.

"I did ask if she wanted to go somewhere else, but after she gave me a long lecture about how if I tried to _touch_ her, I'd wake up missing a certain appendage, she got all challenging and told me I should prove that dragons weren't really dangerous. In hindsight, I think I should have been more worried about how quickly she was willing to enter potentially dangerous situations. I worry about you for that too, just so you know."

A soft sigh was followed her arm tightening around his waist.

"You know I won't stop, just like I know you won't. But I know I have you to come back to, and there's nowhere I'd rather be. Are you finished talking about Cami? You can carry on, I just don't want to push if it's a difficult topic."

Shuffling down so he could hug her properly, Hiccup buried his face in her hair, breathed in her scent and felt the tension that was building leech out of him again. She stroked his back, soothed him further.

"It's alright."

Hiccup drew in a deep breath, rolling onto his back again and pulling her to his chest as he did so.

"She came back with me. I found her a spot in the cave to stay, told the dragons not to bother her while she settled in. Had to steal some clothes for her cus she was a fair bit shorter than me, although she _did _steal one of my tunics to wear to bed. It went past her knees."

He let out a short chuckle, remembering the fabric clinging to her developing curves but not that far off touching the floor. He'd started growing by then, and spent a lot of time making new clothes to keep up with it. Cami preferred to make her own, so Hiccup provided her with materials and thread and needles and tried to avoid being around when she was angry at said needle.

"It took about a month for her to find a dragon she liked enough to learn to fly. She was fine around them, even when I left her there to go on rescues, but you know how it is. One dragon just... clicks with you more."

"Of course. You and Toothless, or Cloudjumper and I."

"Yeah. For Cami, it was a Hobblegrunt. Changes colours based on mood, always lit up around her. She named him Flicker, cus he flickered between colours. I built her a saddle, because otherwise there was no way she'd be able to ride him" Hobblegrunts had spines all the way down their necks "and taught her to fly. She picked it up pretty fast."

He stopped to reach for some water, sharing the cup with her before they cuddled back up together.

"When did you become... more than friends?"

Hiccup remembered Cami inviting herself into his space at random, complaining she was cold and dragging furs over and sitting in his lap. He didn't think she'd lied - the caves _did _get cold sometimes. But she definitely enjoyed that Hiccup got increasingly flustered and uncomfortable, before one day she'd just turned and kissed him.

"Kind of early on, but we didn't do _everything _right away. Both of us had no idea what we were doing. Figured it out though... and we didn't go all the way until we were sure it was _something _between us. Cami didn't want to risk ending up pregnant, not if we were just a physical thing. Not that I ever _got _her pregnant."

Hiccup felt like that was an important distinction to make to his mother - there was no lost grandchild out there.

"How did you lose her?"

"Dragon rescues. I know what we do isn't _safe, _but Cami would run into a firefight without blinking. One day, she ran into the wrong fight."

A few tears prickled at the corner of his eyes. Hiccup didn't try to fight them. When his mother noticed, she reached up and brushed them away, stretched to press warm lips to the top of his damp cheek.

"Flicker too?"

"No. But he didn't want to stay after we lost her. I guess we reminded him too much of her. I dropped him off at a Hobblegrunt colony and told him to stay safe. He did take her helmet with him though."

He did his best not to _think _about Cami for a long while, heartbroken and doubly convinced that his life was one of solitude and dragons.

Then he met Valka.

Right away, the feral, dragon-saving mad woman caught his attention, but he'd still been raw from losing Cami and pulled away from her. But the next time they saw each other, he lost his internal fight against the draw she had, and left in the morning feeling confused and guilty. And while he kept _trying _to leave, to protect his heart from another break - leaving Berk after accepting he was never going to be what his dad wanted, all the loneliness, and then when Cami came to chase it all away, he lost her - she'd managed to wriggle in under his skin anyway, with her gentle smiles and the tender way she treated him when he was wounded, with her enchanting eyes and the fires that burned between them when they were in bed.

He never stood a chance, but he'd _tried. _And then, there was the revelation. She was his _mother. _If **that **couldn't keep them from falling for each other, Hiccup doubted anything before would have done it either.

"I wonder how things would have been if you still had Cami when we met."

Humming, Hiccup found himself smiling, even laughing a bit.

"Cami always struck me as an adventurous woman. Maybe she'd have liked you too."

That made his mother laugh too, the sweet sound tickling his skin as her shoulders shook with it.

"Perhaps. Although she might not have been as eager to disregard that we're mother and son as we are."

Hiccup shrugged.

"I dunno, she was always surprising me."

They were quiet for a few minutes, just embracing, quiet.

"I can see this is hard, but when you're up to it, I'd like to hear more about her."

"Really?"

Valka nodded, meeting his eyes and offering a reassuring smile.

"You loved her. If you want to share those memories with me, I want to hear them."

Gods, how did he ever get _so _lucky with her? Hiccup couldn't help but cry a little, the release cathartic as she held him and comforted him, made soft sounds to soothe him. As he got himself together again, Hiccup kissed her, felt her thumbs brush away the tears on his cheeks as she cradled his face.

"Thank you. You're constantly... sometimes I can hardly believe you're real."

"I promise you, I'm quite real. How are you feeling?"

"A little rough... up for going flying? I could do with some air."

"Always."

After a little more cuddling, the two of them got up and dressed, their dragons all too pleased they were done copulating and ready for flying. The air was cleansing, whisked away his lingering sadness and left a warmth in his chest for his memories of Cami and the loving support of his mother. He still _missed _Cami, of course he did, but it was nice to not feel like he was hiding that any longer, and Hiccup could look back on their good times with fondness rather than guilt now it wasn't a secret. Except a little guilt, because Hiccup knew he should have given his mother more credit than to not want to hear about his past.

As he and Toothless rolled and dived through the air, his mother and Cloudjumper were never far behind, even with the incredible speeds the Night Fury was capable of. At least by then, the two dragons had gotten _most _of their competitiveness out of their systems. They almost never started impromptu races or fish-catching contests anymore.

A lazy, leisurely glide rounded out their flight, landing back in their mountain home with Hiccup feeling _so_ much better than he had when they left.

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

His mother looked nervous. Hiccup frowned, not sure what she was worrying about.

"Sorry, I just... you talking about Cami had me thinking about the past. Do you ever think of going back to Berk?"

-HTTYD-

**Back to Berk soon you say, Harker? Perhaps! (I know the chapter is short but it turns out I had less to say than I thought)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Lots of fluffy Valcup thoughts in my head right now. I just think about them cuddling A Lot.**

-HTTYD-

Hiccup was visibly surprised by her question. She waited, watching him mull it over as he undid the saddle from Toothless, so the dragon could go get comfortable.

"Back to Berk?"

"Yes. I was just curious."

"I guess so? But only to figure out what was making dragons raid Berk so much. We both know it's not just for food, most would rather eat fish than sheep and boar and yak."

Valka faltered. She hadn't even _thought _of that - when she thought about Berk, she thought about the people, the raids, the deaths on both sides. She hadn't even considered the _why. _

"Now you mention it... I suspect there is a nest somewhere nearby. Perhaps with a greedy queen."

"How do you mean?"

Hiccup asked, having finished removing the rig from his dragon to put away for the evening.

"Well, as I said, every nest has a queen. Her job is to protect the nest, and she often gets first choice on mates if the species are seasonal, rather than mate for life types. Sometimes one gets a little greedy though, and becomes lazy as the members of her nest often bring food as tribute. When she stops bothering to hunt for herself, it's usually a sign. Although, most nests will oust a queen who doesn't serve the nest. And once dragons pass a certain size, their diet tends to _have _to expand."

A dragon of Cloudjumper's size was about as big as a fish-staple diet could go - any bigger, or other species like Skrill who had extra powers to fuel seemed to opt for a bigger, more satisfying meal and preferred sheep or boar.

"So... what you're saying is if we go and look, we might find a really big, really mean dragon who's hurting other dragons? How do we deal with that?"

Valka hummed, thinking. He raised a lot of good questions, ones that challenged who they were. What happened amongst dragons was not for them to interfere with, really - their presence in the nest was them in the dragons world, following the dragons rules (except the mother and son as lovers, but that didn't really seem to bother the dragons much). On the other hand, if Berk was _still _under attack after all these years - and since Hiccup had said there were still raids fifteen years after Valka was taken, that was likely - then that meant that dragons were being hurt by both their own kind and the humans.

It certainly required investigation, at the very least.

"I think perhaps... we should go and see if we can find this nest first, and work out what we may be up against. And then, because this is his decision, we should ask the Alpha what he thinks we should do about whatever we find."

Hiccup nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like the best plan."

Valka turned away to put her own things away, as they'd layered up to go flying and now she was too warm with the roaring fire nearby. Hands landed on her hips, Hiccup's breath warm against the back of her neck.

"Hiccup?"

"Do you miss him?"

She frowned, confused.

"Who?"

"Dad."

_Oh._

"I... suppose I do" she dislodged his hands, but only so she could turn and face her son "but not like _that. _It's you that I want."

As soon as she said that, it was clear that had been Hiccup's concern - that them returning to anywhere _near _Berk was somehow going to rekindle his parents marriage, which was hardly compatible with the relationship she and Hiccup shared. He kissed her rather desperately, mouth rough and hungry against her own. It took little time for Valka to sense his need for comfort and reassurance, and even less time to feel the same when his hands wormed their way under her tunic. All the time spent working in the forge and petting dragons meant Hiccup's hands were rough and calloused, but Valka loved to feel them on her skin all the same, shivering as his fingers roamed her body.

Dragons grumbled in the background as the two stripped each other, but they were more than used to the two of them by then and simply went to find somewhere else to sleep. Hiccup made short work of stripping her, using their discarded clothes as a buffer on the ground for Valka to lay down on. A silly, fleeting thought crossed her mind that they maybe needed rugs of some kind, and it almost had her giggling. Hiccup distracted her, teeth nipping at her collarbone enough to draw all her attention back to him.

His fingers found their way between her thighs, stroking and urging her to wet his hand. Hiccup didn't really need to try hard to arouse her, body responding to him eagerly. She could feel his cock digging into her leg, hot and hard and Valka grew wetter knowing _she _did that to him. Valka trailed her hand down the lean muscles of his torso, curling fingers around his shaft and thrilling in the sounds he made in response.

"Ready for me?"

Hiccup panted against her ear. Valka nodded, widening her legs to fit him there and gasping as he filled her, sliding an arm around his shoulders to bring him closer to her. It had only been a short time, really, that Hiccup was in her life as _Hiccup. _Nik had been in her life a little longer, but it was her son she'd truly fallen in love with, and she knew she wouldn't give him up. Not unless he _wanted _to leave.

He gave no indication that that was in his head - the distress he'd just felt at the idea Valka was going to leave him for his father spoke volumes about how badly he wanted to stay with her.

Hiccup groaned, pulling back much to Valka's displeasure. He got her to move, turning over and pulling her into his lap. It was one of his favourite positions, which Valka supposed was at least partly because it meant her chest was at his eye level. She rode him steadily, his hands on her hips to guide her while her hands rested on his shoulders for balance. Valka liked the position herself; Hiccup always felt _impossibly _deep when she lowered herself fully, and Hiccup looked up at her with such awe and love in his eyes it made her dizzy.

"Feel better?"

Valka asked when they were done, Hiccup's head resting on her bare belly as she stroked his hair. He looked up at her, offering a small smile.

"Yeah. Just... had this moment of worry that I'd let myself fall for you and that I was gonna lose you."

"I told you Hiccup, it's you that I want."

They headed for a quick bath, and spent the rest of the evening tending to dragons or cuddling up by the fire. Hiccup certainly appeared to have perked up by then, back to being his usual cuddly, affectionate self, gifting Valka with his soft smiles.

His question _did _raise questions of her own though. Valka hadn't given much thought to what others might think, because they lived such an isolated life. But going back near Berk... what if she _did _see Stoick? How was she to explain the relationship she had with their son now? It had started by accident, but continuing it after they found out was completely intentional. And Valka wouldn't change it. They were happy, and together against the dragon hunters. He loved her and she loved him, any guilt long faded.

Somehow though, she didn't think Stoick would see it the same way. Or anyone else, for that matter. Perhaps she was worrying for nothing though - dealing with the dragon raids didn't necessarily mean they were going to have to go back to _Berk, _just... near it.

"So mom, when do you wanna do this?"

Hiccup asked her the next day as they were eating breakfast. Valka stirred her thick porridge, pondering.

"You mean Berk?"

"Well, to find the nest near Berk, but yeah that."

"I'm expecting there to be a few shipments in dragons soon, a lot of the hatchlings from last season will be worth their capturing within the next month or so. But if we went in the next day or so, it shouldn't make much difference."

Valka had learned the rhythm of the hunters by then, having been working against them much longer than Hiccup, and so he always deferred to her expertise on them. Hiccup nodded to show he'd heard her, finishing the mouthful he was eating before he answered.

"Makes more sense to go now, then? I don't like to think of the dragons getting hurt on either end for any longer than they need to be."

"I agree. We'll prepare today, and assuming nothing happens, we can fly out tomorrow? It's a good few hours flight to the archipelago."

Hiccup looked up, frowning in thought.

"You know how far it is?"

"I passed once or twice over the years, chasing down hunters that skimmed past it."

"Did you think of coming back?"

His eyes were wide, inquisitive.

"All the time. I wanted to see how you were doing, wondered how you were growing up. But I thought I'd find a dragon killer, and I didn't want to see _that _in you. I couldn't have known you'd take after me."

"I know. And I understand why you didn't come back. I just wondered if you ever wanted to."

Valka moved closer, pulled Hiccup into a kiss.

"I missed you more than I can say. I can't believe how lucky I am to have you here, now."

Apparently done with the humans being emotional, Toothless jammed his head in between the two of them, sniffling hopefully at their bowls. Hiccup laughed, shoving playfully at his dragon.

"Get out of it, you've had your breakfast!"

Toothless warbled, giving Hiccup his best sad eyes, as if to say he was still _so _hungry, and Hiccup should take pity on him. Hiccup naturally caved, reaching into the nearest barrel and tossing a fish each to Toothless and Cloudjumper. Valka giggled.

"You spoil them."

"They deserve it. We couldn't do what we do without them."

Valka nodded to concede his point. That was very true. Going toe to toe with dragon hunters would have been a _lot _harder without the dragons at her side. She'd likely not have lasted long enough to meet her son.

"So, morning rounds, go for a fly, then we can make sure we're good to be gone a day or so?"

"Sonds good son."

Hiccup headed to take care of the nursery, then joined Valka in changing bandages on wounded dragons and giving food and medicine to the sick. Then they took two very impatient dragons out for a nice long flight, enjoying their joint favourite activity.

Well, _one _of them, anyway, Valka chuckled to herself.

The other one took up much of the rest of their morning, playful and giggly as they tumbled in to bed together, forgetting the weight of what they were doing the next day, forgetting everything but the little bubble world of their nest together. Hiccup was definitely in a better mood than he had been the day before, and left Valka a quivering, wrung out _wreck_ by the time he was done seeing her twist and writhe under his touch. He looked rather smug about that fact too.

Once she'd recovered enough to actually leave their bed again, Valka joined Hiccup for lunch, then spent the afternoon with him packing bags for the short trip - food and medical supplies went with them pretty much everywhere, and the trip was going to take at least the entire day. And since they weren't sure what they'd find, it seemed silly not to be prepared for any potential injuries.

Scouts returned that evening with information on nearby hunter ships, but between the two of them, she and Hiccup had the ships cleared and the dragons freed in short order. So they went to bed feeling tired and accomplished, with nothing to stop them from heading out the next morning. Closer to Berk than either had been in _years._

-HTTYD-

**I know it's short and it's been a while, but I hope all the fluffiness makes up for that a little bit.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow, I had no idea this was so neglected! How could I do this to Valcup? I'm so sorry my babies.**

-HTTYD-

The flight itself was uneventful - it wasn't short, but they'd gone on longer journeys before. Part of Hiccup desperately wanted to turn back, to keep Berk as far away from himself as possible, but he also really wanted to find out if there was a cause for the raids, and if there was something they could do. It would keep more dragons safe, after all. And probably help Berk. Hiccup groaned, and accepted that they were definitely going. Toothless flicked up an earfin, warbling up at Hiccup curiously.

"I'm fine bud, just thinking."

Thinking back to before, wrapped up in the bed he shared with his mother in _every _way. Something about getting anywhere near Berk when they were... _together, _just didn't quite sit well with him. But they weren't even going to Berk, so what did it matter? He shook himself mentally, gripping the handles of his saddle a little tighter. His mother turned to look at him, and Hiccup gave her his most reassuring smile (after lifting his helmet so she could _see _it). She seemed soothed by that as Hiccup flipped his helmet back down.

They stopped after a few hours, for bathroom breaks and so everyone could get a drink and something to eat. Hiccup debated turning back, though with no real intent to it, and he didn't mention anything to Valka. He wasn't going to worry her just because he was brooding. And she did cheer him up quite effectively, both shedding their helmets and navigating her awkwardly bulky armour so she could lean in and kiss him. Hiccup soaked in the intimacy of the moment, her hands sliding through his hair as she made sweet little sounds in the back of her throat.

"I love you."

"I love you too son."

Her soft words soothed his anxiety, letting Hiccup remember why they were going, that there may well be dragons who needed freeing - and who definitely needed protecting from Berk. That was all that mattered. He had his mother, her fingers linking through his and squeezing affectionately, and that was all he needed to find his nerve again.

"Shall we go?"

She asked, and Hiccup nodded, squeezing her hand in return before he pulled her back and kissed her again. Reluctantly moving away from her perfect mouth, Hiccup watched her as she leapt up to Cloudjumper's back, slender body so lithe and powerful it made his heart quicken in his chest. Gods, he was so damn _lucky._

Back in the air, Hiccup's anxiety tried to return, but he pushed it away, focusing on the dragons that needed them to go and find the problem. He focused on the wonderful, _mad _woman close by, who gave him life as a babe and then love as an adult. Well, Hiccup knew she loved him when he was a baby too, but it was _very _different.

Hiccup saw her raise her staff, shaking it in a signal he recognised as _not far now. _Gritting his teeth, Hiccup turned Toothless to follow her and Cloudjumper. They were alone - it was a recon mission, and since both he and Valka were going, it seemed pointless to bring other dragons along, since they were expecting a Queen dragon that could exert some control. Dragons bonded with humans seemed to have some resistance, according to his mother in her experience of other nests, though neither Toothless or Cloudjumper had _reason _to argue or resist the Bewilderbeast Alpha in _their _nest.

Toothless started fidgeting, looking around and raising a forepaw to scratch at his head in mid air. Confused, Hiccup rubbed his dragon's side.

"What's wrong bud?"

"My guess is he's feeling the Queen. Perhaps this was a nest he spent time near before, when he resided closer to Berk, and recognises her control?"

Hiccup realised his mother had gotten closer, lifting her helmet to get a good look at Toothless' twitching.

"Is he gonna be ok?"

She whistled to Toothless, the sharp noise managing to get his attention. He cooed up at the humans, confused.

"Hey bud. Think you can handle this?"

Toothless bobbed his head in a short nod, wiggling his ears and roaring into the air.

"Alright, let's go. If you start feeling it, let us know. We don't want you picking a fight with Cloudjumper."

Grunting his agreement, Toothless wriggled in mid-air, keen to keep going. Resolving to keep an eye on him, Hiccup nodded to his mother. Valka gave him a small smile, put her helmet back on and they continued on their way.

They heard the mountain before they saw anything, and what they saw was less than reassuring.

"Well, we know there's definitely a big dragon."

Hiccup commented.

"Yes, and by the looks of it, she's about to destroy half of Berk's fleet."

Given the troublesome situation, Hiccup supposed asking _how _his mother could tell the dragon that was probably only a hundred feet smaller than the titanic Bewilderbeast was a _she _could wait. The ships all bore the Berk sails, and Hiccup got a sinking feeling about who they were going to find somewhere in the chaos, assuming he hadn't already been roasted.

There were flocks of dragons swarming in the air, torn between the nest leader and the humans firing on them. Most of them were the breeds commonly spotted in Berk raids - Monstrous Nightmares, Gronckles and Deadly Nadders. Unlike with the Bewilderbeast, she seemed unable to call on the dragons around to fight for her.

Though, with the huge clubbed tail and her hide looking like it had been carved from stone, she could probably fight quite well for herself. None of the viking weapons were doing more than glance right off, other than boulders with seemed to irritate her. As they flew closer, Hiccup saw her pick up a whole ship in her mouth and crush it to kindling. Thankfully, she seemed so distracted that Toothless was unaffected.

"So mom... Berk or beast? Do we save them, or her?"

They'd intended to recon, and to consult the Bewilderbeast. But it was clear they had two choices - intervene and stop the huge Queen, or leave her to finish destroying most of the adult population of Berk. Hurting dragons was never going to be their first choice, but they'd already agreed the Bewilderbeast might well have decided to do away with her to protect her nest...

He heard his mother let out a truly irritated sound, then turned toward her.

"I suppose we have to save them from their own stupidity. How do you want to do this?"

Wincing as he saw her huge, smoky fire-breath, Hiccup looked down at their dragons.

"Toothless is faster, and smaller so less likely to get hit. Cloudjumper has more experience against large groups of angry humans. You should try and get the other dragons out of danger, I'll deal with her. Come on bud, let's go."

All the ships of Berk were on fire by the time they got closer, and Hiccup heard a _very _familiar yell before he caught sight of a mass of ginger beard and horned helmet. One of a pair...

_Long time no see dad. Can't wait for_ **_that_** _reunion..._

"Your shots aren't gonna hurt her much, but we need to get her attention. I have an idea..."

Hiccup recognised her particular type of fire, and his mind was turning over ways to defend themselves against it. He caught sight of large wings folded against her sides, and flattened himself against the saddle as Toothless picked up speed. Some dragons were too big to fly, but there was only one way to find out...

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

"There's someone on it!"

Well, they knew he was there now. Hiccup turned his head to check on Valka, saw her having a fair bit of luck getting the other dragons out of the way. Proud and utterly in love, Hiccup forced his mind back to the matter at hand.

"Fire behind the frills, that's usually a thin point."

Toothless gave a rumble of agreement, and spat a plasma blast just behind the huge dragons huge head. It definitely took her eyes - all _six _of them! - off of the Vikings, turning her attention to the new irritatant. Toothless zipped past, shooting up into the air so her fire was aimed away from the amassed humans. A few sharp turns that really put Hiccup's stirrup system to the test later, they dove back down and a well-placed plasma blast to her face had the huge beast finally spreading her wings.

"Well, she can fly. Let's get her away from everyone else."

It took her a while - she really was _so _massive Hiccup was shocked she could get airborne - to properly chase them, but the sheer length of her meant she closed the distance pretty quickly. The sky was darkening, thick with clouds. Perfect for a Night Fury.

"Come on bud, time to disappear."

Amongst the clouds and with his speed advantage, it _almost_ made for an even playing field... thankful Toothless trusted him so, Hiccup kept them climbing, needing a real run up for the dive back down. She kept firing on them, but the clouds dampened her fire and hid Toothless from sight, so she missed them completely. Hoping Valka and Cloudjumper hadn't followed them up - he didn't want to hit them on the way down - Hiccup patted Toothless.

"Don't fire until I say so. We need to time this just right. Now time to dive. Try to aim her away from the humans."

The dragons were likely to move themselves out of the way, and could move quicker to boot. Toothless warbled to show he'd heard and understood, and fired on the Queen just to get her attention. Dodging another great, dusty plume of flame from her, Toothless dove down.

Any nearby dragons scattered on sight of them, and Toothless led the Queen to an empty part of the island - if his plan worked, the volcano would be a big, rocky buffer. The Queen chased, and Hiccup twisted his neck to watch. She snapped her teeth at them, but that wasn't what he needed...

Her massive jaw opened, and he saw what he wanted. The greenish gas filling her throat was what he'd expected and hoped for.

"Hold it... almost..." Hiccup's heart pounded in his chest as he waited, knowing he was _literally _playing with fire "now!"

Toothless twisted in mid air, and fired right into her open mouth. The gas in her mouth and throat erupted, filling her with a self-contained mammoth fireball.

"Now out of the way!"

Shocked, her descent slowed but the momentum was too much, and she choked on her own fire all the way down before slamming _hard _into the ground, and exploding on contact. Even with Toothless' speed, they were touched by the flames and Hiccup felt pain erupt along the exposed skin of his neck, heard some hair singe right by his ear, shockwaves from the impact knocking them further and faster. Toothless couldn't stay airborne, and tumbled to the ground not far from where the Vikings had run to hide from the firefight. Hiccup fell from the saddle, but luckily he didn't have far to fall.

Cloudjumper's body landed right by them, and his mothers helmet hit the ground before she hauled Hiccup to his feet, turning his head to check his wounds with her wide, worried eyes.

"Son!"

"It's fine mom, I'm alright. Let me check on Toothless."

She nodded, still fussing as Hiccup leant down to see if his dragon was wounded. Toothless seemed more exhausted and a little disorientated than anything, though Hiccup saw a few patches of damage that would need dressing.

"Thank you bud, that was amazing!"

Heavy feet disturbed the rocky ground nearby, and Hiccup only just remembered there were others there when he heard the shocked voice of his father.

_"Valka?"_

He heard his mother suck in a sigh, and she turned toward him.

"Hello Stoick."

Gritting his teeth, Hiccup rose to his feet, burn on his neck stinging as he moved.

"You're alive? And... dragons? And... who's that?"

Lifting his hands to his head, Hiccup slipped off his mask as he turned around and faced his father for the first time in a few years.

"Hi dad."

-HTTYD-

**Short but important chapter, for obvious reasons...**


	9. Chapter 9

**I literally do not know what happened to make me fail to update fics for like, _months _at a time lately. Brain does not Brain effectively.**

-HTTYD-

He wasn't really sure how long Stoick - and what looked like half of Berk behind him - stood there gaping at the two, but it started to get boring as the burn on his neck began to hurt more. After a minute, he remembered they had supplies with them, and turned away from his gawping father to see if the bags had survived the whole event. One was gone, but luckily it turned out to be their food and water one, the healing supplies mostly intact. Seeing what he was doing, Valka seized the opportunity to stop looking at the Berkians too and knelt down next to him, fussing with the things they used to treat burns.

If they'd been alone, then Hiccup would have asked his mother what they were going to tell the Alpha - they'd told him it was a recon, and now the giant dragon was dead, little more than ash and smoke in the air. Hiccup hoped the Bewilderbeast was going to understand, but he was _annoyed _himself that their hand had been forced by the idiocy of humans. _Berkians, _no less.

"Just do a little, no point wasting it all when I'm gonna need a bath soon."

He turned his head so she could rub the mixture over his burn, wincing as it stung something awful and she made little apologetic sounds. Hiccup almost forgot himself, and only Cloudjumper growling as a couple of Vikings got too close reminded him that kissing his mother was a bad idea just then.

"You're alive? Both of you?"

"Either that or you are having one _Hel _of a fever dream."

Hiccup quipped back, already mixing a few things up to treat Toothless' injuries. It was a short term solution until he had better supplies, but it was better than nothing. He soothed a hand over his dragons head, Toothless letting out a pitiful groan.

"I know bud."

"Bud? That's a dragon!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, patted Toothless and straightened up.

"In case this hadn't permeated your extraordinarily thick skull, dragons _are not dangerous. _If they were, mom wouldn't still be alive. If you touch any of them, you will not like what happens next."

His father actually recoiled slightly, and Hiccup would have bet anything that it was a mix of shock over the dragon defence, and the simple fact that Hiccup hadn't back-chatted him in _years _(not because he was afraid... mostly, but because he knew it was like talking to a mountain. Stoick never heard a word) before he left. Mouth opening and closing a few times as he looked between them, he finally spotted Cloudjumper.

"That's the dragon that took you!"

Hiccup looked at his mother, ready to tell his father to leave her be if needed but then he also knew she could handle herself well. Valka closed her eyes, then turned to her dragon with a fond smile on her face.

"Yes. His name is Cloudjumper, and he never harmed me. Not even when I raged at him to take me back. Hiccup's right, and it's just like I told you. We don't have to fight them."

Even with the living, breathing proof of his long-lost wife having survived alongside the dragon that took her away, it didn't seem to be getting through to Stoick at all. Hiccup wasn't really surprised... he'd _left _because he couldn't make his father listen, and his mother had never come back because she knew she couldn't convince him of peace with dragons, and didn't want to see Hiccup growing up a dragon killer like his father.

Ultimately, Hiccup wasn't even angry they'd both been driven to stay far away from Berk. They had each other, and aside from Cami dying in a rescue, Hiccup wouldn't change a thing about his life, including the relationship he had with his mother. As Hiccup looked around, he saw the remnants of Berk's ships in the background, some still smouldering.

"You better not fight them. I have a feeling you're gonna need them."

"Excuse me? I don't need dragons!"

Hiccup wasn't surprised his father snapped back so quickly, but he simply chuckled.

"No? Then do tell me, father dear, how do you plan on getting back to Berk? Your suicide mission didn't kill you, but the queen still smashed up your ships. You all swimming back to Berk?"

The other Berkians all looked around, and saw Hiccup was entirely right. Many of the dragons that had been under the control of the now-dead queen were starting to settle down behind Hiccup and Valka, confused by the rescuers and probably also wanting to see if the downed dragon was completely fallen. After a minute of awkward silence, Valka turned to Cloudjumper.

"Which of them is in charge with the queen fallen?"

Cloudjumper ruffled his wings before roaring out to the dragons, and after a few squabbles and squeaks, a beefy Hideous Zippleback ambled forward, it's two blue-grey heads bobbing up and down as it surveyed them. Not Titan Wing, but Hiccup wouldn't have been surprised to see it get that far.

"You're free now. She cannot control you any longer, and you are free to go wherever you wish with no need to raid the human settlements."

Hiccup nodded along, watching the dragon absorb her words before he turned back to the Berkians.

"Like she said, no more raids. No need for you to use number of dead dragons as a scoring system anymore."

"Pfft! They've killed hundreds of us! And now you're taking their side?"

Hiccup scowled.

"You killed _thousands _of them, and they defended themselves! Either you accept that right now, or the minute Toothless is able to leave I _will _leave you all here."

For reasons Hiccup would probably never fathom, Stoick then turned toward Valka.

"And you?"

"I agree with Hiccup. I've lived among dragons for almost twenty years now, and they mean no harm if you mean them no harm."

"Even the one your son just _blew up?"_

Hiccup glared.

"We wouldn't have had to if you idiots hadn't shown up here to get yourselves killed! We came to recon, because we wanted to stop the raids on Berk. But _nooo, _ you had to turn up and force our hand because Vikings don't fear death. Which is good, cus you're all gonna die here by the looks of things."

Apparently having had enough, a distinctive accent cut into the conversation.

"You want to watch how you talk to your father, boy-o!"

"Why? If I'd have turned to him and said I thought dragons could be reasoned with, befriended even, he'd probably have killed me _and _Toothless himself. I left because I couldn't reason with him, and then I found mom, who said the _exact _same thing about trying to reason with you all nearly twenty years ago. You people won't change, and I'm not going to show anybody respect that they haven't earned. But by all means, Spitelout, let me know how _you _plan on dealing with this situation."

Spitelout scowled, stammered a few unintelligible noises, but had no actual answer for him. Valka laid a hand on his arm, and threw Hiccup a look that he knew meant _calm down. _Not because she disagreed with him, but he got the feeling she just didn't have the energy to fight with them. And honestly, the sooner they got away from the Berkians, the better. He needed to treat Toothless and curl up in bed with his mother so he could deal with having had to kill a dragon. Hiccup didn't want to process all that with _these _people.

"Hiccup is right, and I agree with him entirely. But leaving you all here would mean we... fixed this problem for nothing. Berk won't last with so many of you gone, which I think perhaps you should have thought about yourselves in the first place."

His mother was a better person than Hiccup, he supposed. She'd gotten past war-hardened and was full of compassion, while Hiccup was still young and hot headed and full of anger toward those who hurt the dragons. Irate as he was, he wouldn't go against her.

"I am _not _getting on the back of a dragon!"

Spitelout decreed, and several others seemed to agree with him. Hiccup actually found himself laughing.

"Of course not. We don't have that sort of time" he turned back toward the Zippleback, bowing his head as much as his wounded neck would allow "I realise you have no love for these people, but if you could all grab one and drop them back on their home island, you'll be able to get on with your lives in peace. And with no queen to feed, you guys can just hunt for yourselves again."

The Zippleback cocked one of it's heads, while the other made some rumbling noises at Cloudjumper. Hiccup bit back a laugh at Cloudjumper's exasperated expression, but he eventually gave an agreeable nod that seemed to pacify the others. Then he looked down at Toothless, back up at Hiccup and gave a gesture with his head as if to say "put him on my back".

"You'll carry him back for us?"

Cloudjumper nodded, and a dazed Toothless gave a coo of thanks before struggling to his feet. Hiccup and Valka helped him up, and Cloudjumper straightened up before looking at them expectantly.

"Right. They're gonna grab you, so I'd hold on tight and keep your weapons to yourself if you don't wanna be dumped in the middle of the ocean. These guys are doing you a favour."

He would have been lying to say he took _no _pleasure in the fearful looks of the Vikings, especially once Valka had hopped up on Cloudjumper's back and leant down to haul Hiccup up alongside her. With his injured passenger, hopefully Cloudjumper wouldn't do anything to unseat Hiccup, who was quite used to flying with a saddle he could hold on to. Not that he _minded _holding on to Valka, but he did have to be mindful of the fact they could be witnessed.

"Bring him along first, he'll need to tell the Berkians not to attack the dragons."

Hiccup gestured to Stoick, and poorly hid his amusement when the leader Zippleback came up to take that task himself. It was an act of trust for _all_ of them to lift the Vikings by their claws, since many were now holding an armed, dragon-hating creature close to the thinner, more vulnerable scales of their underbelly. But once a brave few started, the others followed suit. They took off, all keen to get the whole event over with. Hiccup glanced back to keep an eye on proceedings, view occasionally blocked by Cloudjumper's huge wings but, seeming quite intent on their own survival, none of the Vikings attacked their carrier dragons.

Berk coming into view was a _relief, _which Hiccup had never expected to say again in his entire life. Stoick was dropped quite unceremoniously, and it took a pointed look from Hiccup, Valka _and _Cloudjumper for him to call out:

"Hold your fire! They've got passengers."

Berkians gearing up to attack halted, confusion rippling around as more and more dragons dropped more and more Vikings to the ground, circling in the air to watch it all happen.

"Chief? Did you get a knock on the head? Those are dragons!"

"Quiet, Tuffnut. A deal was struck for our return home, and we will not harm those who brought us back."

His tone was heavily weighed with resentment, and the look on his face said Stoick himself thought the idea not one of his best, but apparently he wasn't about to break the deal in front of his wife and son, who sat comfortably on the back of a dragon themselves.

"Well, if that's everything, we better get going."

Hiccup commented, about to turn and ask if the other dragons wanted to come back to the Alpha's nest when he was interrupted by his father's sudden turning around.

"You're leaving, just like that?"

A few had recognised the two of them, and murmurs of _is that Hiccup? _or _no way, that's Valka! _began to echo around them.

"Well, yeah? We have dragons to take care of, and I'm not really comfortable being here with everyone just _waiting _to sink a blade into a dragon for kicks. Why would you _want_ us to stay? Not long ago you were gearing up to yell at me for siding with dragons."

Which he hadn't seemed angry at _Valka _over, Hiccup noticed. But then, he wasn't surprised, His father had always idealised the short marriage, and never mentioned once the arguments that his mother had told him of, mostly over dragons. So while it stung a little to see it so plainly laid out, Hiccup wasn't really shocked that his mother got a pass on the dragon thing, while Hiccup was just failing to live up to his fathers expectations. _Again._

Besides, they only had a couple of days freedom before they had to get back to chasing down hunters.

"We can stay a little while" his mother murmured, for Hiccup's ears only "Cloudjumper needs to rest before he carries Toothless all the way home."

"The dragons won't be safe here."

Hiccup muttered back, and Valka sighed, nodding and turning toward the Zippleback.

"Head back to the island we found you on? We'll rejoin you there soon."

As the dragons nodded, communicating amongst themselves before they took off, Hiccup wondered if they should have just asked one of them to carry Toothless back instead. Painfully uncomfortable, Hiccup looked at his father.

"Our dragons need a rest, so looks like we're staying a little while" he slid down from Cloudjumper's back, and though his father still towered over him in height, Hiccup was no boy anymore and looked right up at him "if anyone harms them, they _will _regret it."

Valka slid down next to him, and when she didn't refute Hiccup's threat... well, it was more of a promise really, Stoick seemed to click that he wasn't in control there for just a second, swallowing heavily before nodding.

"Alright."

-HTTYD-

**Oh, this is gonna be fun...**


	10. Chapter 10

**The final chapter is upon us! I'm sad to see this lil AU go, but it's been a delightful run re-writing how I would personally have preferred HTTYD to go as the shameless Valcup trash that I am. (and presumably lots of you are, since you're reading this, though you might personally prefer the canon overall... )**

-HTTYD-

Hiccup wasn't happy about staying. Personally, Valka wasn't thrilled about it either, but she wasn't going to overwork an already-tired Cloudjumper (and both Hiccup and Toothless were wounded, and Berk probably had healing supplies).

Plus, while she had no intentions of _staying, _she supposed after they'd both abandoned Berk and Stoick, a couple of hours to give her ex-husband some closure was probably less selfish overall than just flying right off. At least the raids were over, and that meant both dragons and Vikings could get on with their lives seperately and in peace.

"Shoulda known that _Hiccup _would turn traitor and join the dragons!"

"Shut up, Snotlout. We just saved your father from his own attitude and idiocy."

Hiccup snapped back, and 'Snotlout' (the absolute _spitting image _of his father, minus the beard, Valka noticed) actually flinched in surprise. Apparently, he hadn't expected Hiccup to come back at him.

"What are you talking about?"

Rolling his eyes, Hiccup was knelt next to Toothless, taking stock of his dragons wounds.

"We went to recon the cause of the dragon raids on Berk, which we've fixed by the way and you're welcome" Hiccup's tone said they were not welcome at all, but he forged on "and found a bunch of idiots trying to take on a dragon living snugly in a volcano. Their ships were smashed and burned. _I _defeated the dragon, with my mother and our dragons help. And then _we _convinced the dragons you guys have been working to kill for over two hundred years to bring those that survived home, otherwise they'd have been stranded. So, like I said, shut up Snotlout."

Valka threw her son a look, and though it looked as though it cost him, he turned away from Snotlout and focused on Toothless. Cloudjumper let out a sigh, and Valka rubbed his side to soothe him. He gave her a little rumble of appreciation, looking around at the Vikings and then back to Valka, eyes full of questions.

"Is Gothi still around?"

She asked Stoick, who was still staring at her like he couldn't really believe she was there. Wondered if he was hoping it was all a dream and they weren't on the side of the dragons.

"Yeah. Why?"

"She's the one who tends to keep healing supplies. Hiccup and Toothless are injured."

Hiccup threw her a grateful look, and though it looked like he couldn't believe he was doing it, Stoick turned and asked somebody to fetch "Gothi and her bag of tricks". Both Spitelout and his son openly gaped in shock, and there were murmurs of disbelief from those around them.

"Don't you all have something to be doing? We're pretty low on ships now, and there's still a winter to prepare for."

Lots of cleared throats and awkward shuffling followed, before a good three quarters of the amassed Berkians suddenly had better things to do than stare. There were many wary looks at the dragons too, and Valka did her best not to roll her eyes as she reassured them.

"They won't harm you if you don't harm them, but they _will _defend themselves."

"How do we know that, huh?"

Snotlout spat in disbelief, and his father nodded in agreement. Hiccup stood, apparently done staying quiet.

"Because if it weren't true, how would we both be standing here? How did we get everyone back here? We show dragons respect, and we get it back. You show dragons the sharp end of a sword or spear, and they fight back. Now go bother someone else before you get yourself barbecued."

After a minute, Snotlout seemed to decide he was quite keen on not getting roasted alive, and stomped off, his father in tow. Hiccup growled to himself, and Valka forced herself not to think of all the times he'd done that up close to her...

"Oh by the way, _dad" _his tone was one of derision, and it visibly rankled Stoick "if you guys are still keeping dragons trapped here to practice killing them on, we'll be taking those dragons with us too."

"Oh, will ye now?"

Hiccup stood facing Stoick, and nodded very deliberately.

"Don't make us come back here for them. I won't ask nicely next time."

Stoick looked to Valka, obviously sensing she had some degree of sway over her son, but Valka was in wholehearted agreement.

"He's right. What do you need them for now anyway? There will be no more raids."

It visibly frustrated him further, but he obviously had no argument other than "so we can still hurt them".

"Fine."

Valka was confused by how quickly Stoick agreed - their marriage had been brief in comparison to their separation, but she definitely remembered he was far more stubborn and hot-headed than he was acting now. It wasn't one of his more endearing traits, but Valka herself was stubborn as could be, and Hiccup seemed to have inherited it from them both. They were saved a continuance by a wizened old woman shuffling over, large staff in her hand and a man Valka recognised right away as an Ingerman by the little wings on his helmet behind her, hefting a crate.

"Thank you Gothi. May I?"

Hiccup asked, perfectly cordial to her. Gothi nodded, gesturing to the young Ingerman to put down his cargo. Rooting through it, Hiccup obviously found what he was looking for, and began mixing and mashing things together without a word. Stoick looked back at Valka, expression oddly gentle.

"Val... can we talk?"

She hesitated - leaving Hiccup alone with the dragons seemed like a bad idea if they were trying to keep the peace, when Hiccup's patience for the attitude of the people around them was eggshell thin.

"You can go. I'll stay and make sure nobody kills each other."

Gobber offered, and after a minute Hiccup nodded his agreement, though his expression clearly asked _what does he want? _and it mirrored Valka's own thoughts. Still, if she could pacify Stoick with a conversation so their brief respite on Berk was less tense, she supposed it was a good idea.

"Alright."

She followed him with only a small sense of trepidation, back to the same hut she'd spent a few years as his wife in near two decades ago. It hadn't ever truly felt like _home _to her then, except perhaps when she laid her baby in the cot, but it felt even more strange around her. No ice, no rocky walls, no sounds of dragons all around.

No Hiccup.

"Drink?"

Valka made to shake her head, then changed her mind.

"Water, please."

She'd sucked in a bit of smoke back in the battle, and wanted to flush away the taste but was keen to keep her wits about her. Stoick frowned lightly, but got her the water she asked for. Valka sipped it, waiting to see what he wanted to talk about.

"So... you were really alive all this time?"

"Yes. Cloudjumper never meant me harm. He just thought I belonged somewhere else. Dragons are very intelligent. I think he knew I was... different."

She wasn't going to mention the Alpha. That was the _last _thing Stoick needed to know about.

"Different? He torched the hut. He almost _killed _Hiccup!"

Valka sighed.

"I know, and he's apologised to Hiccup for that. He was defending himself, and defending _me_ against the one who raised an axe to him. Hiccup bears him no ill will for that night. I'm not saying it was right, but Cloudjumper wasn't to know how fragile a human babe is."

"A dragon apologising..." Stoick muttered under his breath, shaking his head "madness. And now the two of you are just going to, what? Fly off back to your dragons?"

"Yes. We have to."

"No you don't. You could stay here. No raids means no fighting, just like you always wanted."

Oh gods. Stoick was trying to get her to come back to Berk. Valka could hardly tell him that she'd fallen in love with their son, that they'd been lovers for months, both with and without the knowledge of their blood relation.

"Stoick... you can't just expect me to upturn my whole life."

"Why not? Come back to me Val. I've missed you."

She sighed, shaking her head.

"We're not the same people we were twenty years ago Stoick. You can't expect us to just... pick up where we left off."

"Are you saying... you don't love me anymore?"

Valka had to think about that. Stoick was obviously hoping for a quick and positive answer, because it was clear he'd continued to cultivate his feelings for _her _all that time. But even if she hadn't met Nik, hadn't fallen in love with Hiccup... she wasn't the girl who married Stoick any longer.

"I do, but... not like I did, no. I don't regret our marriage, and I love you for giving me a wonderful son. But my place is not here. It's out there, with the dragons. I'm sorry."

He looked crestfallen, and Valka _did _feel guilty for putting that look there, but lying was hardly going to help anything. EIther way, she wasn't staying. An awkward silence fell over the two of them, before the sound of Cloudjumper's roar caught Valka's attention. She threw Stoick a brief glance, but then turned and headed right back outside.

"It's alright! He just stepped on the mortar and pestle. Nobody needs to panic."

Hiccup's voice was one of reassurance, and sure enough Valka found nothing worse than a slightly pouty Stormcutter who'd hurt his claw a little.

"Don't be so overdramatic Cloudjumper."

Cloudjumper huffed, and everyone around them who'd gotten in a panic started to calm down. Hiccup was no longer alone, Valka noticed, a pretty blonde girl around his age stood surprisingly close. However, it didn't appear they were having an entirely friendly conversation.

"So all that stuff you did in dragon training was fake?"

"Yep."

"I lost to a cheater? Great. Juuuust great."

Hiccup shrugged.

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't really want to win. What with the prize being to kill a dragon and all. Mostly I just wanted everyone off my back, and to see if what I learned from Toothless applied to other dragons."

He'd finished treating Toothless' wounds, and returned what he hadn't used to Gothi with a quiet word of thanks before turning back to Valka.

"Everything alright mom?"

"Mhmm. How's Toothless?"

"He'll be ok. Cloudjumper, think you can manage a couple of minutes in the air with us on your back? There's something I wanna show you while we're here."

Cloudjumper gave a nod, and Valka confessed herself surprised. Stoick had followed them out, and saw them getting Toothless up on Cloudjumper's back.

"You're leaving?"

"Not yet, but I need to take the dragons somewhere for a moments peace. Don't follow us."

Hiccup answered coolly, and once Valka had climbed up on Cloudjumper's back, Hiccup clambered up behind her and the Stormcutter took off. It was a very brief flight before Hiccup told him to land, and they found themselves in a little cove. It looked relatively untouched, and there was water full of fish that the dragons were very happy to see. Hiccup cupped his hands in the water and drank some for himself before he straightened up, wiping the moisture from his hands before he turned back to Valka.

"This is where I met Toothless. Not counting the bit where I cut him out of his ropes. But this is where we bonded, where I'd sneak off to visit him most days."

She looked around. The sun glittered on the waters surface, and there were dense trees all around that gave the cove a very private, isolated feel. There was a shield wedged between some rocks, the paint on the wood mostly gone.

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah. So... what did he wanna talk about?"

Dragging a hand over her face as she remembered the awkward conversation, Valka glanced around before spotting a little cave entrance, and gestured toward it. Hiccup nodded, and they walked over to sit out of the sunshine, letting the dragons eat, drink and bask in peace. Valka took off her armour, a little too bulky and awkward to sit comfortably in. Hiccup followed suit and undid his top layer, casting it aside next to her armour before they shuffled closer together.

"He wanted me to stay."

Hiccup tensed.

"With him?"

"Mhmm. He seemed quite upset when I said no."

She didn't want Hiccup worrying there was any chance of her taking Stoick up on the possibility, and it seemed to work as the tension in his muscles abated.

"It's weird being back here. I didn't realise how much I'd changed until I was talking to Astrid just now."

Ah, so that was who the blonde was. Valka knew the name - Hiccup had talked about her before, mentioning the girl he'd carried a torch for as a teenager when he was talking about his life before Toothless.

"How so?"

"Well, there was a time I'd have done pretty much _anything _just to get Astrid to notice me in a way that didn't involve her holding an axe to my throat. I even sorta hoped she'd be impressed by how I was doing in dragon school, but she just got madder and madder that I was doing 'well', because she trained hard and I'd been the village screw up til then. But talking to her now... all I could think was how I wanted to get home, to just be with you and the dragons."

"I feel the same. When I was in the Chief's hut, I felt so out of place."

Hiccup turned his head as much as he could to look at her, fixed her with his deep green gaze.

"So we're definitely leaving?"

"As soon as Cloudjumper feels up to the trip. I thought... I don't know, perhaps that I could offer your father closure, but he seems only interested in pursuing the past. And with Drago out there, we simply don't have the time to stay here and go round in circles, because all _three_ of us are stubborn as a mucky baby dragon avoiding a bath."

Hiccup snorted, and nodded.

"Yeah."

After a few minutes quiet, the dragons seemed to be settling in their own little patches of sunshine for naps. Valka smiled as she looked at them, then noticed Hiccup was shrugging out of his tunic and untying the laces on his bottoms.

"What are you doing?"

"Too warm. Thinking of going for a dip in the water."

He kicked off his boots so he could take off his leggings, left in only his linen shorts before long. Valka watched him rise to his feet, then turn and give her an expectant look where she sat on the ground still.

"You coming?"

Undressing with Hiccup so close to Berkians seemed somewhat foolish at best, but Valka couldn't deny him when he looked at her like _that. _So she nodded, opting only to strip down to the shift she wore under her own clothes - she could leave it off if it was still wet when they were leaving. Hiccup looked a little put out she was still quite covered, but took her hand and they walked out to the little lake. The water was cold, but they'd definitely swam through much colder water, and both had pretty good cold tolerance from the nest and flying high. Hiccup made sure not to go too deep and wash off the balm on his neck, but he seemed to feel better for the soak. Valka certainly did, rinsing the smell of battle off her skin... the view of Hiccup barely-clothed was rather nice too.

They climbed out of the water after a little while, and Hiccup eyed the way her wet shift clung to her body with obvious want. Valka shivered under his hungry gaze, and Hiccup noticed.

"Are you cold?"

"A little."

She wasn't, but Valka had a feeling she knew where he was going...

"I'll warm you up."

They went back to their little cave, and Hiccup peeled the wet fabric from her body, laying it down on the ground for a little protection before he pulled her close. Valka stopped him taking off her bindings - they were damp too, and would have been too difficult to put back on, especially in a rush if anyone happened across them. Which was plenty of reason to _not _do anything at all, but when Hiccup's mouth covered hers and his hands settled on her hips, Valka knew that even those concerns wouldn't stop her.

Despite the chill of the water, Hiccup_ responded _quite quickly, swelling inside his damp shorts as his hands roamed her body, pulling Valka against him and bucking his hips so his erection rubbed against her rather pleasantly. She moaned softly against his mouth, felt him smirk into their kiss. Growing wetter as he nuzzled and nipped at her neck, dropping his head to suck a bruise above her bindings (sensibly where she'd be able to cover it) Valka ran a hand down his chest, skin cooled by the water but warming under her touch.

"Move a sec so I can get these shorts off."

Hiccup groaned, and Valka reluctantly pulled away but it was worth the sight of him naked, cock curving up toward his belly once it was freed. She pulled off her own damp underwear, back in his lap within seconds and mewling weakly as he thrust up against her. Taking their time was almost as foolish as doing it at all, but _gods _she loved the feel of him, rolling her hips into the sensation before she reached down again and guided him, gasping as he filled her.

Heat flared through her body as Hiccup moaned, breathing words of praise for how she felt wrapped around his cock, murmuring that he loved her as Valka braced her hands on his shoulders and rode him steadily, mindful of the burn on his neck. They held each others gaze, lost to the world beyond each other for the moment. Just enough common sense to know they couldn't draw it out as long as either would like was left, Hiccup gripped her hips and moved her a little quicker, panting breaths hot against her neck and a guttural plea she'd heard before. Valka complied, one hand leaving his shoulder and slipping down in the narrow gap between their bodies, her fingers finding her clit and rubbing. Hiccup dropped his gaze to watch her, hips bucking to press deeper into her and Valka sucked in a sharp breath with each of his harder thrusts, struggling to stay quiet and not wake the dragons.

Hiccup was little better when Valka's teeth found his shoulder on his uninjured side, biting down to quiet herself as she tightened and shuddered, his sounds utterly _indecent_ as she spasmed around his cock. He wasn't far behind her, pulling her down so he was deep as could be when he came. They held each other as they caught their breath, hearts pounding, Hiccup's voice gentle again as he murmured words of love and stroked her back.

"I love you too son."

He sighed happily, then again with a slightly less contented sound soon after.

"We should get dressed. There's no way nobody will follow us."

They pulled apart reluctantly, and Hiccup gave her his discarded shorts to clean herself up a little, jokingly complaining he'd have to be careful when they were flying back with less protection around such a sensitive area.

"You'll be sat behind me, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Hiccup chuckled.

"Guess you have a vested interest in protecting this area."

Valka rolled her eyes - he was _ridiculous - _as she re-dressed. She wrung as much water out of her own underwear as possible, wishing they'd had the foresight to ask Cloudjumper to set them a little fire but supposing she'd dry off eventually, and she'd flown in wet clothes before and been fine after a warm bath and some tea.

Hiccup had a similar thought, hunting out some wood and reluctantly waking Cloudjumper to set it on fire - along with Valka's shift and his shorts, destroying the evidence of what they'd done so nobody could happen across it later.

"I don't care what they think, but I'd rather not deal with the questions."

He commented as they sat near the fire to chase away any residual chills from the lake, Cloudjumper having gone right back to sleep once he'd finished being helpful. Valka wouldn't have minded a nap herself, but she was much too used to sleeping with Hiccup's arms around her, his body heat soaking into her.

"Look, there's one of the dragons! I told you they went up by Raven's Point."

Hiccup groaned unhappily and rolled his eyes, stretching out to lie on the ground with his arms folded under his head. Valka reached to stroke his face reassuringly, but it was all she could do as Berkians found their little cove.

"This was our spot."

He grumbled, and Valka leant close.

"It'll always be our spot."

_That _brought a brief smile to Hiccup's face, likely at the memory of their coupling only moments ago, and he nodded, throwing Valka a look full of pure _love_ before their peace was encroached upon.

"Why is there a shield here?"

"Maybe Hiccup stole it."

Groaning again, Hiccup got up, glancing to ensure that their clothing was more or less destroyed by flames before he headed out of their little hide-away spot. Valka's legs were still a little weak after earlier, but she got up and joined him, brushing dirt from her clothes as she walked to stand by Hiccup while they watched a handful of people his own age scramble over and under the shield wedged in rocks. She recognised the Ingerman boy, Astrid and Snoutlout, and she supposed the very strikingly similar two were Thorstons. They looked an awful lot like Magmar Thorston, though he'd disappeared from Berk before Valka was taken.

"What do you want?"

They all looked at the two - still missing their top layers of Hiccup's flight gear and Valka's armour, but otherwise fully dressed. She resisted the urge to run a self-conscious hand over her neck, sure Hiccup would have mentioned if he'd left visible marks.

"The Chief sent us to check you hadn't just left."

One of the Thorston twins (she assumed) said, getting exasperated looks from both Astrid and Snotlout. She suspected they weren't actually meant to _say _that. Hiccup tsked.

"Of course not. We still have to get the dragons out of the arena. Now go away, you're disturbing our dragons while they're resting."

"What are you even doing here?"

Snotlout asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"You remember when you all laughed after I said I shot down a Night Fury? I wasn't lying. He landed just up there" Hiccup pointed up out of the cove "and when I didn't kill him, this is where he ended up. I damaged his tail, and he couldn't fly. So I kept him down here, a secret, and visited him every day while I figured out how to help him fly again."

Valka knew he wasn't proud of harming Toothless, but she supposed in a way, it was how they found each other - Toothless wouldn't have had the time to learn to trust Hiccup if he hadn't been grounded, and Hiccup would never have had the chance to realise the truth in dragons if he'd never shot Toothless down and been faced with the choice of Berk's approval or a dragon's life. The past was done with, and he'd chosen the right future.

Only Astrid didn't seem completely shocked by the story - the Hoffersons had always been a fairly shrewd, smart bunch, and Valka wondered if she'd simply worked out most of what must have happened after they landed on Berk on the back of a dragon that day.

"And then you ran away to be with your runaway mother?"

"Mom didn't _run away, _Cloudjumper took her. And really, isn't it _my _choice whether to be upset or not about her being gone? But no, I didn't run away to be with her. I left because I knew I couldn't be like you guys, and part of me felt guilty for not being able to hurt a dragon back when I thought they'd killed my mother. And then I found her, and she was just like me, and I realised _of course _a dragon wouldn't have hurt her. Why would they?"

"Uh, because it's a dragon? They do that."

Hiccup rolled his eyes at the Thorston twin.

"If that were true, how would we both be standing here? If she'd been killed all those years ago, how could I have found her? Look, I don't much care what you guys think. The raids problem is solved, and we'll be taking the dragons you still have here. You can get on with your lives, and we can get on with ours."

He turned his back to them all and walked away, heading over to where Toothless had been woken by their talking to check on his dragon. Valka felt her heart swell with pride as she watched him, ignoring the awkwardness of disbelieving stares from the Berkians.

"You abandoned your husband and your son... for _dragons?_"

Astrid asked her, and Valka supposed it was as close to a fair question as they'd had so far.

"No. I did not leave by choice. I suppose I did eventually _choose_ not to come back, but I felt it best when I knew I couldn't keep my son safe. And as the years went on, I feared returning and finding a proud dragon killer in the place of the babe I'd left behind. I wasn't to know he'd taken after me. Besides which, if you ask any of those who were around when I was here, they'd all tell you I was a real nightmare to have around."

"How do you mean?"

The Ingerman boy asked, and he looked genuinely curious.

"Well, I always believed peace was possible. I used to... interfere, during the raids, arguing with Vikings before they could kill the dragons. I drove Stoick _mad _with it all. The Chief's wife, refusing to fight? It never really went over well. Before I fell pregnant with my son, I was in real danger of getting myself exiled, but then I was bearing the Chief an heir and everybody backed off a little. After I was taken, I just thought Hiccup, and Berk in general, were safer without me."

Cloudjumper, irate he wasn't going to be napping any longer, shuffled on over to Valka, and his size was clearly a little intimidating to them all. He gave her a tired little coo, and Valka turned to give him an affectionate pat.

"I know, Cloudjumper. Go have something to eat and drink, and then we'll see how you feel."

He rumbled low in his chest in agreement, then threw the Berkians a warning look before he headed over to the lake for a drink and some fish.

"What dragon is that? I've never seen it in the Book."

Ingerman asked, and Valka supposed there was no harm - they were so rare he may never see another in his lifetime.

"Cloudjumper? He's a Stormcutter. They _were _in the Book..."

She wondered if Stoick had taken the pages for himself.

"Huh. They're not now. And I've read that Book like twelve times!"

Refilled and refreshed, Cloudjumper returned to her side, indicating he felt up to their trip now.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, and Valka looked over to see how Hiccup and Toothless were doing. Toothless seemed to be feeling better, and he'd only be riding on Cloudjumper's back for the trip.

"Son? Are you ready to go?"

"Ready when you are."

After retrieving their respective top layers, they got Toothless up on Cloudjumper's back again before climbing up themselves, and she caught Hiccup giving a slightly sarcastic salute to those who'd come looking for them before they took off. He directed them to the arena, and they landed outside the chain dome. There were several Berkians there, all giving them very suspicious looks.

"What do you want?"

"I'm here for the dragons. If you try and stop me, we _will_ come back and we won't be happy to have to do that. Now stand aside."

They didn't move, but they also didn't stop Hiccup shoving past them. Valka watched through the gaps in the chains as Hiccup went to the first set of doors, fiddling with a heavy lock before disappearing inside. He came out with a Monstrous Nightmare, hands out to show he was unarmed as he led the dragon out. Then he freed a Nadder, a Gronckle and two more Hideous Zipplebacks from the other cells, and that was all of them.

"They're all spooked and a little injured, but they're fit enough to make the trip back. We can treat them properly then."

By then, news had found Stoick, and Stoick had found them.

"So that's it?"

"That's it. Bye dad. Bye Gobber."

Hiccup climbed back up on Cloudjumper's back, turning to gesture to the freed dragons to follow them, grunting as it pulled on his injured neck before he twisted back to sit securely behind her.

"Home?"

Hiccup asked as he slipped his arms around her waist, and Valka nodded.

"Home. But we need to go and see the dragons from the island first."

Hiccup nodded, and with their little band of rescues flapping along behind them, the two cast one last look at Berk from the air before they turned away and headed off in to the distance. Berk was no place for them any longer; they were just too different.

-HTTYD-

**Farewell, and thank you to the winner of my Fandom Trumps Hate bid earlier this year for such a fun and interesting prompt/request to play with!**

**(Don't get me wrong, I think Berk coming around and living with dragons was good! But like, this was so much fun to re-imagine).**


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